EKRATA. 

On page 25 (Introduction), line 14, for " monopoly " read mendacity. 
On page 26 (Introduction), line 5, for " setons ,; read caustic. 
On page 33, line 3, for " satisfied at " read satisfied with. 
On page 107, line 5, for " Man " read Mankind. 

" 136, " 3, " " anatomosing " read anastomosing. 

" 209, "11," " Secondary "read Secondary and Tertiary. 

" 270, last line, for " criticize ' ; read critic-' se. 

" 3 (cover), for " 12 to 3 " read 10 to 3. 



%* The following is to be read as the fourth paragraph to page 78, it hav- 

q inadvertently omitted : — 
The venereal virus, or poison, is an ethereal essence — an element or princi- 
ple — not gross matter, as many seem to think. It is not the matte 
chancre, or bubo, that infects, but the virus contained in that matter. It is 
as subtle and attenuated in form as air, or eveu electricity itself. No sub- 
stance, and least of all a thin tissue of rubber or skin, such as " safes " ; are 
made of, can resist its passage ; but it readily passes through any intervening 
substance, with which it may chance to come in contact. This is amply 

by the spontaneous chancre, termed by the French bubon (Temblee, 

1,11 venereal practitioners of repute have long since admitted the ex- 
(. [Sec Essay 2, page 42.] Hence, a more dangerous mistake in sup- 

I as many persons do) these shields or " safes " effectual as pre 
of venereal infection, or of preynancy — for the semen* is, also, a principle 
(aura) — can scarcely be conceived of. These are fads, of which vvevy com- 
petent physician is perfectly well aware. Avoid, then, all " 
would poison, or any other foe to life and happiness. 

*See Essay 3, page 48. 



THE 

FALLACY OF CAUTERIZATION EXPOSED; 

OR, 

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS 

FOR 

YOUNG MEN: 

BEING THE RESULTS OF THIRTEEN YEARS' PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 
IN EUROPEAN HOSPITAL AND AMERICAN 

I»RI"V-A.TE .^PRAOTIOE, 

LN THE TREATMENT OF 

SPEBMATOKKHCEA 

AND ITS CONCOMITANT DISEASES. 

INTRODUCING, ALSO, AN ENTIRELY NEW AND ORIGINAL SYSTEM 
FOR THE PROMPT, SAFE, AND RADICAL 

CURE 

(without cauterization) 
OIF THESE DISEASES. 



PRECEDED BY A SERIES OF 

ORIGINAL PRACTICAL ESSAYS 

UPON SUBJECTS OF YITAL INTEREST TO 

YOUTH, MATURITY, AND AGE. 
BY 

CHARLES D. HAMMOND, M.D., 

SPECIAL CONSULTING PHYSICIAN AND OPERATIVE SURGEON ' 
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL SOCIETY ; LECTURER ON SYPHILIS ETC. 

NEW YORK : 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 

(Office, 61 Bleecker Street.) 
1859. 




3~Z2~ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

CHARLES D. HAMMOND, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
Southern District of New York. 



T. HOLMAN, PRINTER, 
Cor. Centre and White Streets, N. Y. 



TO 

DR. PHILIP RICORD, 

SURGEON TO THE HOPITAL DU MIDI, PARIS, FRANCE, ETC., ETC., 
IN ADMIRATION OP HIS 

EMINENT PROFESSIONAL CHARACTER, 

THESE PAGES ARE VERY RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
BY HIS GRATEPUL PUPIL, 

THE AUTHOR, 



EDITORIAL. 



****** " It seems all but inevitable that a Doc- 
tor who makes one special form of disease his study, should understand that 
form better, and be able to treat it more successfully, than if he practiced 
miscellaneously and generally. If, then, a physician, by careful observation 
and thorough study, shall find himself qualified to cure a certain form of dis- 
ease which usually baffles medical treatment, it seems not only his right but 
his duty to make the fact generally known. The adverse rule of the medical 
profession seems to us unreasonable and injurious — not to say inhuman." — 
From the New York (Daily) Tribune, May, 1858. 



" The great majority of the people do Doctor themselves — experience over- 
ruling altogether the advice of Doctors to the contrary — and it is therefore 
wise as well as benevolent to put ivliat medical knowledge they are likely to ven- 
ture upon, into as simple and intelligible a shape as possible. Dr. Hammond 
has undertaken this. A Dictionary of Medical Terms and Words is added to 
the volume, so that the ordinary mind can read and understand, and the 
work is most carefully prepared from the author's own practice, and from 
the works of the best considered writers. Dr. Hammond has lived long 
abroad, and is an enthusiast for Medical Reform. His book is worth every 
one's owning as a reference and a guide to health." — From the New York 
Heme Journal. 



*** Ricord's Practice includes not only the cure of all diseases and in- 
firmities of a confidential or private nature to which the sexes are liable, 
but also of those incidental Nervous, Mental, and Consumptive complaints 
growing out of Premature Decay in young persons and adults, from whatever 
cause arising — complaints which, of all others, should not be tampered with 
by blindly resorting to specifics, patent medicines, instruments, or other 
plausible but delusive, destructive, and unscientific treatment. 



NOTE, 



Yeratrum Yiride being one of the bases of my 
internal or constitutional treatment of the diseases 
embraced in this book, I deem it proper to say a 
few words more, in this place, concerning so in- 
valuable a Medicine, potent and of subtle action 
though it be. 

Accident, rather than design, first caused me to 
employ this remarkable remedy as an anti-venereal, 
scorbutic, and nervo-seminal alterative and arterial 
regenerator. Having occasion to visit Cairo, 111., 
in the spring of 1853, 1 there became acquainted, for 
the first time, I may say, with the medicament un- 
der consideration, through the kindness of a very 
aged and highly respected native Eclectic physician, 
Dr. Smith, since deceased, who was reputed to be 
very successful in treating this class of affections, 
chiefly by means of vegetable remedies, of which 
the Yeratrum, conjoined with Iodine, was the prin- 
cipal. He averred to me that this medicine was an 
alterative, purifier and nervine, without its equal in 
the vegetable kingdom, " or in any other kingdom," 
as he expressed it ; and he furthermore declared, 
that it was a perfect substitute for mercury in all 
those diseases for the cure of which that pernicious 
mineral is, unfortunately, an imagined " specific." 
I then naturally asked him what he thought of the 



6 NOTE UPON THE VERATRUM VIRIDE. 

Veratrum as an anti-syphilitic and seminal (or 
nervous) reinvigorant. He instantly asservated 
that he had " cured hundreds" with it, in combina- 
tion, who were laboring under both complaints. " I 
mix it," to use his own words, " with Iodine and such 
things as ought to exactly evenly balance, to a single 
allspice," its sedative and emetic action. I have, 
however, since ascertained, that by submitting the 
Iodine to a certain process of a3therization, the 
emetic and sedative effects of the Veratrum are ab- 
solutely neutralized — a desideratum which Dr. S. 
frankly admitted he had never been enabled fully 
to attain. 

The old gentleman subsequently imparted to me 
minute and rather complicated rules, concerning the 
safe and otherwise judicious use of this great Kem- 
edy, to the best advantage, and for which valuable 
information I thanked him, most gratefully ; for I 
had in vain searched, for a long time, after just such 
a Medicine, — to harmonize with my well-authenti- 
cated Theory of these Diseases, — as this has proved 
itself to be. I say that I gratefully thanked him ; 
for I had early discovered that, although a plain, 
unpretending man, the Doctor was full of ripe ex- 
perience, and, withal, that he was an intelligent 
observer of nature's laws, even then, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-six years. He was, also, of 
liberal principles, and devoid of all professional 
prejudices, for which I greatly admired him. 

On my return to New York, shortly after, I lost 
no time in putting to practical test Dr. Smith's sub- 
stitute for " hydrargyrum, potash, and the common 



NOTE UPON THE VERATRUM TIRIDE. T 

nervines to boot/ 7 and was not long in ascertaining 
the value of this truly invaluable plant. In brief, 
after five years of very active experience in the use 
of this remedy, I take pleasure in pronouncing it 
the ne phis ultra of medicines, for the cure of these 
affections ; and as such it is recommended to the 
unfortunate afflicted. 

Though a new remedy in these diseases — being 
myself, I believe, the first and only medical prac- 
titioner (with the above exception) who has em- 
ployed it in this connection — the Veratrum Viride 
is, nevertheless, an ancient medicine. It is an 
American plant, and "is found from Canada to the 
Carolinas, inhabiting swamps, wet meadows, and 
the banks of mountain streamlets." * 

As an alterative, non-narcotic nervine, anodyne, diapho- 
retic, and purifier of the Blood and Secretions, I hesitate 
not to pronounce this remedy far superior to both 
iodine and mercury, uncombined, which two medicines 
are, it is well known, the supposed " specifics" for 
Scrofulous, Venereal, or Syphilitic diseases ; an erro- 
neous and unfortunate notion truly, when itis'remem- 
bered that these minerals are the principal ingredients 
made use of in manufacturing the "patent medi- 
cines " sold throughout the country as blood purify- 
ers and anti-scrofula panaceas, under a variety of 
high-sounding names. 

As a remedy of extensive influence and varied 
virtues, I know of no curative agent at all equal to 
the American Veratrum in the treatment of Scrofu- 

* Professor Wood, of Philadelphia. 



8 NOTE UPON THE VERATRUM VIRIDE. 

lous, Venereal, Nervous, Seminal, and Consumptive 
complaints, when duty combined with suitable 
auxiliaries, and competently prescribed in all other 
essential respects : otherwise, it should not be 
resorted to. In the hands of ignorance and pre- 
sumption, it is unquestionably a dangerous remedy : 
and the same remark equally applies to Iodine. A 
qualified surgeon takes age, sex, constitution, and 
other individual circumstances into consideration, 
before rashly prescribing a valuable but powerful 
medicine, which might otherwise aggravate the 
disease, instead of alleviating and ultimately cur- 
ing it. 

In the Veratrum Viride, then, we have a com- 
plete substitute for Mercury, Liquid Iron and Po- 
tassium, as well as for the whole tribe of Nervous 
Stimulants ; free alike from the corrosive, bone-rotting, 
and uncertain action of the former, and from the 
exhausting, reactionary, and destructive effects of 
the latter.* 

Finally, though highly recommended throughout 
this work, for the cure of the diseases herein 
treated upon, when prescribed in combination with 
suitable adjuncts, by an experienced and careful sur- 
geon, I have at the same time studiously abstained 
from making any attempt to prescribe for the non- 
medical reader either the Veratrum Viride or Iodine ; 
not only because such an attempt would be as absurd 
as mischievous, but also because, had I done other- 

* As generally, empirically, and improperly prepared and administered ; as 
well as in their individual, or un scientifically- combined, st&te — to wit: the 
popular " anti-scrofulous " nostrums of the day. 



NOTE UPON THE VERATRUM VIRIDE. \f 

wise, I should have acted most unfairly towards 
confiding patients, by thus putting into their hands 
an edged tool, as it were, — safe and useful in the 
hands of the skilful, because experienced, workman 
only. Such an act would be justly censurable in 
the eyes of all right-minded and intelligent people. 
Physicians and medical students who are desirous 
of knowing more about the modus operandi of the 
Veratrum Viride, are cordially invited to call upon, 
or address the undersigned, thus : 

Charles D. Hammond, M.D., 

No. 61 Bleecker Street, 

New York City. 

N. B. — The author's JEtherized Preparations of 
the Veratrum Viride and Iodine will be furnished to 
a few qualified Physicians for the treatment of 
Scrofula and Pulmonary Consumption, and who 
will, also, be instructed in the use of them gratis.* 



* Dr. H. hereby pledges himself to the public, not to permit his Medicinal 
Preparations to be sold by any person or " agent," whomsoever ; therefore, 
should any, purporting to be such, be offered for sale, all may know, for a 
certainty, that they are not genuine medicines. The afflicted will thus be ef- 
fectually protected against frauds upon not only their purse, but upon their 
health as well. Persons applying for these medicines must, at the same time 
give the symptoms, &c, of the case, or they will not be supplied. See ap- 
pendix. 



1* 



PREFACE. 



The exceeding importance of the author's " New 
American Medico-Mechanical Treatment of Spermatorr- 
hoea and its Results," including his original Theory 
upon which this System is founded, together with 
the favorable reception which his previously pub- 
lished medical works have met with, especially his 
" Medical Information for the Million," which has 
passed through fifteen large editions since it first 
appeared in 1850, and also his "Kicord's Practice 
Explained," induce him to issue the present volume, 
substituting reading matter in place of such illus- 
trations as might be in the least objectionable to 
the most fastidious ; thus rendering it free from 
those objections which are generally made against 
works treating upon this class of diseases, and 
which, it must be admitted, are usually filled with 
very disgusting, not to say obscene, engravings — 
filthy and ridiculous caricatures, rather than faith- 
ful delineations of disease, the object of which is to 
frighten rather than instruct the over-credulous 
reader. 

Although the views of M. Lallemand on Sperma- 
torrhoea have unquestionably exercised much in- 
fluence, .and the Treatment advocated by him was 
at one time adopted by surgeons more theoretical 



PREFACE. 11 

than practical, perhaps, still, a number of years 
having elapsed since his work was given to the 
profession, the subsequent teachings of experience 
have, it is to be presumed, served greatly to dis- 
abuse the over-sanguine advocates of cauterization 
with regard to the utility of their once favorite 
method. The author has, therefore, thought it 
highly opportune to give to the afflicted the benefit 
of his very active and extended experience in the 
treatment of a disease, which, more than most 
others (Syphilis excepted), is of such vast import- 
ance to Young Men, and others who may, unfor- 
fortunately, have become the victims of seminal 
diseases. 

The causes, also, of the different varieties of Sper- 
matorrhoea, are, in this work, investigated with the 
aid of modern pathology, from which, combined 
with the more recent experience of the author in 
the use of his Medicated Bougie, the Veratrum 
Viride, &c, &c, he flatters himself that he has 
finally succeeded in deducing a rationally scientific 
System of Curative Treatment. Whatever defi- 
ciencies, therefore, upon this head, may have been 
caused in the works of Lallemand, Wilson, and a 
few other European (and American) surgeons, by 
the progress of isolated or individual experience 
and discovery in Medical Science in America, will, 
it is believed, be found to be in this work effectively 
supplied.. 

Having now for a long term of years given his 
undivided attention and study to such branches of 



12 PREFACE. 

medical science as he has treated upon in his medi- 
cal writings— particularly Spermatorrhoea, Stricture, 
and Syphilis— the author cannot but believe himself 
calculated to inspire that implicit confidence in his 
honor, skill, and experience, which patients should 
feel in those in whose hands they place themselves 
in matters of such delicacy and importance. It is 
quite compatible with all reason and argument to 
consider that surgeons whose talents and efforts 
have been so long coiicentrated upon One Particu- 
lar Branch of Their Profession, should be the 
most suitable ones to apply to in those cases apper- 
taining to that particular specialty or branch. It 
were almost superfluous to point out to parties suf- 
fering from these diseases, the great advantages 
which must accrue to them by availing themselves 
of the experience, which such surgeons (if they are 
careful) cannot but obtain ; for it is evident that 
they must possess the immense advantage of supe- 
rior skill over those who have engaged their atten- 
tion in the promiscuous study of disease and medi- 
cine. It is a well known fact that those maladies 
in which the author's practice is principally in- 
volved do not receive from medical men in ordinary 
practice that careful study and observation which 
are so essentially requisite before they can be prop- 
erly understood ; while in most instances, they are 
entirely excluded. 

Should the painful but necessary task which the 
writer has undertaken require an apology, he 
begs leave to observe that it is not alone for the 



PREFACE. 13 

vicious he writes, but for the unfortunate ; that 
these diseases may be contracted in a variety of 
ways, and without the smallest degree of criminali- 
ty ; and that such as are wretched enough to have 
become thus undesignedly and unknowingly the 
victims of contagion, will be the most likely either 
from ignorance or delicacy to fall sacrifices to a 
most cruel disease.* Moreover, as the passions 
will remain ungovernable whilst human nature 
continues, from want of due enlightenment, to be 
frail, endeavors to lessen an unavoidable evil, and 
to rescue from an untimely fate, or loathsome 
existence, individuals who, from unwillingness to 
avail themselves of the services of the family medi- 
cal attendant, are driven to the necessity of placing 
confidence where too frequently none is due : en- 
deavors such as these, it is supposed, will be con- 
ceded to be a work of moral and political rectitude, 
— for in the one case it is a duty to alleviate the 
distresses of our fellow-creatures, and in the other 
every life saved is an addition to the strength and 
riches of the state. 

This work is divided, for convenience-sake, into 
two Parts, in the first of which will be found, among 
other matters, a brief and interesting summary of 
Ricord's Practice in Syphilitic and Gonorrheal Dis- 
eases ; the object of which is to show, at a glance, 
the principles of this admirable method in contrast 



* Reference is here made, more particularly, to the " Venereal Dis- 
ease." 



14 PREFACE. 

with the hazardous routine course pursued by the 
empirics or charlatans of the times. In this Part 
is also given all the important practical points 
relating to the researches of Ricord on Inoculation, 
in its application to the study of Syphilis and Non- 
specific maladies. The second Part of the book is 
a Complete Practical Treatise on Spermatorrhoea, 
and all other Seminal diseases, including those 
Nervous, Mental, and Consumptive complaints aris- 
ing therefrom, and which will be found worthy of a 
careful perusal. 

The writer of this book has discarded, as much 
as possible, the use of terms which few, besides the 
professional man, are conversant with ; he has writ- 
ten (unavoidably in haste) down to the comprehen- 
sion of the smallest capacity ; and has endeavored 
to convey practical information, regardless alike of 
elegance of diction, or the beauty of nicely-turned 
periods. May it be productive of much good ! 

New York, April, 1859, 



CONTENTS 



TITLE PAGE 

DEDICATION 3 

EDITORIAL 4 

NOTE ON THE YERATRUM VIRIDE 5 

PREFACE 10 

CONTENTS 15 

INTRODUCTION 23 



PART I. 

A SERIES OF ORIGINAL PRACTICAL ESSAYS. 
ESSAY THE FIRST. 

RICORD S PRACTICE EXPLAINED. 

The object of this essay — The difference between Ricord's Practice and the 
ultra-mercurial method — False names and filthy books — Ricord on syphil- 
itic inoculation — Rapidity of cure and safety to the constitution — Ricord 
denounces the indiscriminate use (abuse) of all remedies — Denies the in- 
fallibility, or positive reliability, of mercury, &c. , &c. , in the cure of 
Venereal — Convenience of the New Medicines, being odorless and tasteless — 
Ricord's Practice based on the General and Fundamental Principles of 
Medicine — Contrasted with the Mercurial or Quack method — The terrible 
effects of said method — Mercury and the nitrate of silver — Author's rea- 
son for publicly practising in sexual diseases — Moderate fees vs. exorbitant 
demands — His success. SEMINAL DISEASES. General application of 
Ricord's Practice in the treatment of these diseases — Badly managed by 
the charlatanism of the day — Injurious effects of cauterization, mechanical 
appliances, &c. — Caution to patients — Enumeration of some of the more 
important diseases of the sexual system — Elongation and contraction of the 
foreskin can be cured without an operation — Varicocele an unsuspected 
cause of impotence — Piles can often be cured without the knife or ligature — 
SYNOPSIS OF SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES. Syphilis (chancre)— Syphilitic 
bubo — Constitutional syphilis — Gonorrhoea — Gleet — Stricture — A good rule 
to observe — Seminal emissions 29-37 

ESSAY THE SECOND. 

ON INOCULATION AS APPLIED TO THE DIAGNOSIS AND 
TREATMENT OF SYPHILITIC DISEASES. 

Observation by Earle — Chancre produced by matter secreted by a chancre 
only — The first stage, or period of ulceration — When a chancre is but a 
simple ulcer — Local signs of syphilitic inoculation — Description of cban- 
cre — Indurated chancre most frequently followed by secondary symptoms — 
On the plurality of venereal poisons — Inoculation sets this matter at rest — 
The uniform action of syphilitic virus — Effects of constitution, mode of liv- 
ing, local treatment, &c, on chancre — Chancres of eighteen months' stand- 



16 CONTENTS. 

ing capable of propagation — Buboes — Ricord's conclusions with regard to 
bubo — " Bubons d'emblee" — Ricord's opinions on inoculation — Discharges 
frorn the urinary passage, gonorrheal and syphilitic — Concealed chancres 
of the urethra — Inoculation to be frequently tested — Caution to the inex- 
perienced 38-45 

ESSAY THE THIRD. 

SOLITARY HABIT — WRITTEN ESPECIALLY AS A WARNING TO 

YOUTH, NOT TO FRIGHTEN, BUT TO AWAKEN. 

Description — The seminal secretion — Its effects on men and animals — The mi- 
croscope — Lascivious dreams — Celebrated authors on immoderate coition — 
Tabes Dorsalis — Drs. Woodward, Woodbridge, Combe, &c. , on self-abuse — 
Letter to Dr. Hammond, from a physician — Lypria described — Madness, and 
frightful dreams — Pimples on the face, &c. — Vital importance to youth of 
knowledge upon this subject — Dr. Trousseau's thrilling description of the 
effects of this vice — Tulpius — Mr. Harper — The passion, love — Seminal pol- 
lutions — A graphic picture — Dr. Rast's case — Proper treatment the pa- 
tient's only hope — Very interesting cases — Treatment — General remedies, 
moral, physical, and medico-mechanical — The Medicated Bougie, Veratrum 
Viride, &c. — Diet and regimen — Prescriptions — Concluding remarks — New 
York Anatomical Museum 46-70 

ADDRESS 

TO PARENTS, GUARDIANS, SCHOOLMASTERS, AND THOSE WHO 

ARE INTRUSTED WITH THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH. 

Case — General remarks — Confidence and steady perseverance in the treatment 
essential — How to render a substantial benefit to society — Two modes of 
cure , 71-74 

ESSAY THE FOURTH. 

DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS. 

The use of " safes" is but another form of onanism — " A shield against 
pleasure, a cobweb against disease " — Local mechanical appliances never 
cure, but always aggravate seminal disease — One of the most frequent 
causes of sterility — The cause of semen becoming mixed with the urine 
explained — Rapid glance at the author's theory and treatment of seminal 
diseases in general — Advice to youth — Showing how " safes " are positively 
a dangerous reliance — Not a sure preventive of pregnancy — Ricord's opin- 
ion with regard to " safe-onanism.'" 75-79 

ESSAY THE FIFTH. 

ON A NEW AND ABSOLUTELY PAINLESS MODE OF TREATING 
STRICTURES OF THE URETHRA WITHOUT INSTRUMENTS. 

General description of stricture — bridle stricture, the corded stricture, and the 
ribbon stricture — Spasmodic stricture — Old treatment and new treatment — 
The Veratrum Viride — Inflammatory stricture — Treatment — Permanent 
stricture — Causes — Symptoms — A few of the most harassing symptoms — 
Author's treatment without caustic or the bougie — Mr. John Hunter, of 
England, Mr. Howe. Mr. Whately, and Ambrose Pare — Interesting letter — 
Veratrum Viride, Iodine, and their auxiliaries — Two important objects to 
be obtained in the cure, viz., relaxation and absorption — Success of the new 
method — Its advantages to patients 80-89 



CONTENTS. 17 

ESSAY THE SIXTH. 

THE VENEREAL DISEASE. 
Poetical description — Opinions of Ricord and the late Dr. Wallace — Origin of 
the disease a mystery — History of venereal — Voltaire on this subject — Gon- 
orrhoea and Syphilis distinct diseases — Gonorrhoea, and its various syno- 
nyms — Gonorrhoea not a specific disease — Reasons for this opinion given — ■ 
Symptoms of Gonorrhoea — Gleet — Stricture — Copaiha and cuhehs — Wrong 
treatment — Case of C. J. B. — Great skill required to treat gonorrhoea suc- 
cessfully — Symptoms of the later stage of this disease — Gleet does not ter- 
minate in a spontaneous cure — Clap passing into gleet — Cuhehs and copai- 
ba — J. D.'s case — A sufferer for forty years — Syphilis — Nature of syphilis — 
Syphilis contracted by smoking a dirty pipe — Characteristics of chancre — 
Evils of mercury — How black-wash is made — Secondary symptoms — Do 
not procrastinate, but commence the treatment in time — Concise descrip- 
tion of Secondary or Constitutional syphilis — Nodes 90-10-1 

ESSAY THE SEVENTH. 

PLAIN AND EASY RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 

105-107 

NOTICE. 

TIME AND MONEY SAVED BY EARLY ATTENTION TO DISEASE. 

108 



PART II. 

A TEEATISE ON SPERMATORRHEA, AND ITS CONCOMI- 
TANT DISEASES— NERVOUS, MENTAL, AND CONSUMP- 
TIVE AFFECTIONS, ETC. 

INTRODUCTION 111-113 

REMARKS ON THE AUTHOR'S PECULIAR MODE OF TREATMENT. 

Characteristic observation of Dr. Franklin's — The resources of the physician 
must not he limited to the American and English Pharmacopoeias — All 
lands must bo ransacked — Reliance not to be placed exclusively on the 
vegetable, or the animal and mineral domains — The poet's advice to be fol- 
lowed — Seize upon good medicines where'er they are found — Not done by 
the majority of physicians — A mystery — Few remedies in the U. S. or Brit- 
ish Pharmacopoeias that can be relied upon — Ordinary medicines cannot 
cure spermatorrhoea, or any form of private disease — Reliability of mercury 
denied — Author's treatment not the routine or every-day" method — Is 
against all secret remedies whatever — His claim to a peculiar treatment 
established — Brief explanation of the Eclectic system — Not the botanic, 
nor the animal and mineral, but it includes them all — Prof. Rafiihesque's 
definition of Eclecticism - 114-118 

FALSE DELICACY. 

Spurious hashfulness — Fashionable ideas vs. genuine modesty — Physiology 
as a branch of education — Nature's impulses — An absurd objection — Ad- 
vice to those who sneer — Patriotic address to professional men — The portion 
of the Onanist on earth 119-123 

PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 

Medicated Bougie, The Veratrum Viride, Iodine, &c. — Testimonial to the au- 
thor — Two distinct methods for curing seminal complaints — The constitu- 



18 CONTENTS. 

tional method a slower, but none the less sure means — The local, or 
medico-mechanical system, both rapid and radical — The patient's choice of 
methods governed by circumstances — Absurdity of "specific" and exter- 
nal mechanical treatment only — The cerebellum and spinal nerves involved 
in spermatorrhoea, impotence, &c. — Author's theory and treatment at once 
scientific and plain — All may understand them at a glance — Brief descrip- 
tion — Treatment by the Medicated Bougie a painless one — The writer's new 
internal remedies tasteless and odorless, rather agreeable than otherwise , 
being gelatinized and confectioned — Explanation of Mons. Lalleniand's 
theory and practice — Refutation — Loss of Vitality in the Sexual Nervous 
System, not " inflammation," the only true or real cause of seminal dis- 
ease — Cure by author's system effected in half the time possible by any 
other method extant — No risk run by the new American method — Mischief 
resulting from cauterization — The inflammation and pain caused by it fre- 
quently last, according to Lallemand, "about two weeks" — A painful, 
unsafe, and generally ineffectual mode — Lallemand's admissions with regard 
to his plan — Diseases produced by cauterization — Spermatorrhoea a very 
prevalent and terrible complaint among young men — A continual drain 
from the system — Grindle's remarks on cauterization, &c. — The importance 
of knowing every symptom — The honorable surgeon the patient's only 
reliance in sickness 124-132 

CHAPTER II. 

THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 
Anatomical description .... 133-141 

CHAPTER III. 

SELF-ABUSE. 
The terms Onanism, masturbation, self-pollution, &c. , considered — Self-abuse 
practised by very young children — Epilepsy, fits, etc., produced by this 
vice — Death resulting from self-abuse — Lallemand's case — Idiocy — Preco- 
cious developement of the sexual instinct — A more cruel deity than Mo- 
loch — Large schools hot-beds for this vice — Results of past actions — Case — 
How masturbation is commenced — Sinning in ignorance — Weakness and 
nervous debility — " Better late than never " 142-149 

CHAPTER IY. 

SPERMATORRHOEA. 
Cause of spermatorrhoea — Nature of spermatorrhoea — Results of excessive 
sexual intercourse — Enormous quantity of semen passed — Erotic dreams 
and nocturnal pollutions — Attack during sleep — Diurnal emissions — Cause 
of barrenness — Vitiated seminal fluid — Resolved to commit suicide — Happy 
denouement — Sir A. Cooper on impotence — Commence in time .... 150-158 

CHAPTER Y. 

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON SPERMATORRHOEA, Ac, &c. — THE 

CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, PREVENTION, AND CURE, BY A NEW AND 

ENTIRELY ORIGINAL SYSTEM OF TREATMENT. 

Description, causes, and symptoms — Numerous synonyms — Young men the 
most frequent victims — Unsuspected cause of pulmonary consumption — 
Destroys nine tenths of the human race — Prof. Bohn's classification — 
Symptoms — Complete loss of power and retention — The immediate cause — 
The principal causes — Capillar}' congestion — General symptoms — Inclination 
to commit suicide — True nature of the local disease — Loss of vitality — 
Where ? 159-164 



CONTENTS. 



19 



CHAPTER VI. 

ON THE NEW TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHEA AND ITS CON- 
COMITANT DISEASES, BY MEANS OF THE AMERICAN YERATRUM 

yiride, spts. formic, the author's MEDICATED BOU- 
GIE, THE PREPARATIONS OF IODINE, ETC. 
How seminal losses are to be arrested — Constitutional treatment — Local treat- 
ment — Why the medico-mechanical, or local treatment, is the best — Value 
of the Yeratrum Yiride and Iodine , with their auxiliaries — Physiology and 
composition of semen — Yauquelin's chemical analysis — The spermatozoa — 
The cause of impregnation — Deposition of seminal fluid in the urine — Obser- 
vation by Brau concerning respectable married men — General treatment — 
Special treatment — Seminal Gleet 165-171 

CHAPTER VII. 

IMPOTENCE A BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE AUTHOR'S NEW THE- 
ORY THEREON. — THE FALLACY OF CAUTERIZATION DEMON- 
STRATED. 

Different kinds of impotence — Causes — The immediate cause — Brief allusion 
to Lallemand's theory and treatment — Confutation of his main argument — 
The fallacy of cauterization exposed — Inflammation of the seminal ducts 
proved by French anatomists not to be the cause of spermatorrhoea, impo- 
tence, &c. — The author's Theory fully established by post-mortem exami- 
nations — The researches of anatomical science triumphant — Remote 
causes — Masturbation — Absence of the spermatozoa — Accumulation of 
urine a powerful exciting cause of impotence in old men 172-176 

CHAPTER VIII. 

TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCE. 

Sketch of the original theory on which the author's treatment is based, quot- 
ed from Medical Information, &c. — Stimulants and excitants mere place- 
boes in this disease — The cause of impotence lying deeper, requires more 
potent and suitable means of relief — Yalue of the Yeratrum Viride and its 
adjuncts, together with the Medicated Bougie — Iodine and Spirit. Formic, 
a valuable compound — Consummation of the connubial union — Worn-out 
condition of the nervous system — ^Etherization, gelatinization, and confec- 
tion of medicines — Late chemical discoveries ' of Joeckel — Admixture of 
semen with the urine infallibly cured — Author's treatment, in conjunction 
with his Medicated Bougie, removes this symptom in less than half the time 
required by any other method extant 177-180 

CHAPTER IX. 

ON URINARY DEPOSITS AND DISEASES. 
Semen in the urine — Yery frequently caused by the use of spermatorrhoea 
rings, &c. , for the "cure" of involuntary seminal emissions — A never- 
failing and painless method for the removal of this formidable symptom, is 
The Medicated Bougie, Yeratrum Yiride, Spirit. Formic. iEther., Iodine, and 
their adjuncts — The length of time necessary, by this method, to effect a 
perfectly satisfactory cure — Men of all ages, up to sixty years, made hale 
and lusty, where no organic defect originally exists — Sterility or barrenness 
in r women, invariably cured by the author's treatment — Cautionary foot- 
note — The number of applications of the Medicated Bougie necessary — Treat- 
ment by Lallemand's cauterizing method has been totally abandoned b}' 
the author for more than five years — No practical surgeon should ever 
employ it — Request to persons addressing the writer 181-183 



20 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

THE CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

Color, odor, and temperature of pure urine — Abnormal urines, blue, black, 
and violet — Chemical analysis by Dr. Marchand, Prof. Lehman, and others — 
Abnormal constituents of urine — Urinary calculi — Great importance of the 
urine in the treatment of disease. URINARY DEPOSITS. Characteristics 
of healthy urine — The three-fold functions of the kidneys — Three distinct 
varieties of urine — Origin of the elements of urine — Relation between the 
kidneys and the lungs — Evil effects of spermatorrhoea on the digestive or- 
gans. UREA. Beautiful microscopical appearance of its crystals — Its 
excess in urine constitutes disease — Symptoms in connection with sperma- 
torrhoea. THE NEWLY DISCOVERED ACIDS IN THE URINE. Absolute 
importance of microscopically and chemically analyzing the urine, by 
which, if properly done, the cure of spermatorrhoea is greatly facilitated — 
New acids discovered by Dr. Marcet — Elementary constituents of the pig- 
ment of urine. URIC AND LITHIC ACIDS. Symptoms of uric acid in the 
urine — General appearance of this acid — Its relation to stone in the blad- 
der. THE URINARY PHOSPHATES. Difficulty of discovering these de- 
posits — Appearance of their crystals — Frequently mistaken for cloudy 
mucus — Though chemically difficult of detection, examined by the micro- 
scope they at once became apparent — Symptoms — Causes. ALBUMIN- 
URIA. Inflammation giving rise to albuminous disease of kidneys, ure- 
ters, bladder and urethra — A very frequent but insidious disease, only to 
be detected by careful study and chemical research — Old authors describe 
this disease as a ' : premature decaj r of nature " — Albuminous urine most 
important, because most frequent and readily recognizable — When acute, 
the disease is rapid in progress and of fatal tendency — Symptoms — Degen- 
eration of the kidneys— Symptoms so often overlooked by most patients 
as to be seldom well cured — Generally occurs in the prime of life — Easily 
overlooked by a careless observer — Anaemia, or paleness, a characteristic 
feature of the disease — In young girls, degeneration of kidneys and albu- 
minuria often fatally mistaken and treated for ordinary chlorosis, or 
" green sickness " — General state of system during this disease — Frightful 
errors committed in treating spermatorrhoea for albuminuria, and vice 
versa, might be easily prevented by skilful examination of the urine — Diag- 
nosis. DIABETES. Two varieties of the disease — Appearances in each — 
Extraordinary quantity of urine secreted, being occasionally several gallons 
— Symptoms — Diabetes frequent in broken-down constitutions — Sperma- 
torrhoea a prolific cause of the disease — Its fatal tendency 184-200 

CHAPTER XI. 

SUMMARY OF THE NEW AMERICAN TREATMENT OF SPERMA- 
TORRHOEA, &c, &c, BY MEANS OF THE AUTHOR'S MEDICATED 
BOUGIE, THE YERATRUM YIRIDE, IODINE, AND THEIR AUX- 
ILIARIES. 201-207 

CONCLUSION. 

The great importance of carefully watching urinary diseases, to prevent them 
from multiplying, and thus rendering their cure difficult — Imperative nec- 
essity of the microscope for detecting semen in the urine, through the 
presence of spermatozoa — How this process is conducted — Chevalier's pow- 
erful microscope — Not always an easy thing to detect the spermatozoa — 
Their refractive power — Imperfectly formed spermatozoa — Once their pres- 
ence is discovered, the treatment of spermatorrhoea becomes easy — Urinm 
Sanguinis, or morning urine — Author's method of examining the samples 
of urine sent to him — By this scientific invention, a decided opinion of the 
case can be formed — Observation to patients who -wish a thorough and per- 
manent cure — An important case — Its result 207-210 



CONTENTS. 21 

CHAPTER XII. 

LIST OF A FEW CASES SUCCESSFULLY TREATED, EITHER BY 
CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS, OR THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF THE 

MEDICATED BOUGIE, and other adjuncts.— QUE- 
RIES, &c. 211-218 
CHAPTER XHI. 

NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES— EXHAUSTION, HYSTERIA, 
HYPOCHONDRIASIS, &c., &C 

These diseases are slow and insidious in their approach — Great variety of 
forms which they assume — The honorable physician's claims to public 
favor — Experience is the only grand criterion of a physician's skill — Ner- 
vous diseases very prevalent in this country — Should claim our sympathy, 
not our contempt — Numerous diseases included under this head— Symp- 
toms of nervous debility — One particular symptom — Effects of genital 
weakness upon the great nervous centres — Nervous affections imitate, or 
simulate, almost every other disease — Seldom alike in different persons, or 
even always in the same person — They affect both body and mind — Errone- 
ous notions concerning these diseases — Internal symptoms of hypochon- 
dria — The fear of death united with a desire to commit suicide — Violent 
imagination — How nervous disease begins — Horrid dreams — Physicians gen- 
erally unacquainted with these complaints — Causes — Excessive venery a 
prominent cause — Nervous exhaustion, or a want of vital action — The mis- 
erable practice of a destructive habit — Disappointment in life — Intense 
application to study — What the aim of the physician should be — Concluding 
remarks 219-226 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 
The Spirit. Formic, Veratrum Viride, Iodine, and their auxiliaries, the chief 
and only certain remedies — The Medicated Bougd3, also, when these dis- 
eases are accompanied with spermatorrhoea, &c. , and a speedy cure is im- 
portant to the patient — Eat little and often — The kinds of food necessary — 
Avoid excesses — Prescription for a tonic cordial — Late or heavy suppers in- 
jurious—Beware of drams — The above-mentioned remedies invaluable — 
When are they efficacious ? — Their revitalizing effects — The best modes of 
exercise — Air — How flannel waistcoats should be worn — Effects of early 
rising and exercise before breakfast — Violent exercise after meals bad — 
Exercise in gout — Horseback exercise — Moderate dancing in the open air 
beneficial — Common errors respecting exercise — The Veratrum Viride, &c., 
as a substitute for, or preliminary aid to, exercise — " Catching cold " — 
Sleep — The proper duration of sleep— A good sign of health — In what a 
perfect digestion consists — The value of I odine and Veratrum Viride in im- 
parting tone to the stomach and nerves — They give a fine youthful com- 
plexion — Judicious remarks of Dr. Blandeau — Diet and regimen — Nervous 
diseases can be effectually cured, without fail, by the means laid down — 
Peruvian bark — Prescriptions — The only way to secure a radical and satis- 
factory cure 227-236 

CHAPTER XY. 

CONSUMPTION, GENERAL AND PULMONARY. 

General description — The result either of scrofulous inflammation of the 
lungs, or of sexual excesses, or both — Causes — They are various — Among 
the most prominent of these is secret vice, producing genital weakness, 
nervous exhaustion, &c. — The common use of mercurials— A hundred 
thousand persons die annually of consumption in this Union alone — Two- 



22 CONTENTS. 

thirds of this number die before the age of thirty-five — Incidental remarks 
on self-abuse — Symptoms — Very numerous — Author's division of consump- 
tion into two stages — Even to the last the patient seldom thinks death is 
near 237-240 

CHAPTER XVI. 

TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTION. 

Roast beef and mutton, and generous wine, recommended — Friction, exer- 
cise, warmth — Iron and salt prescribed, and the reason for doing so given — 
Observation on the free use of stimulants — The judicious employment of 
remedial means of vast importance — Judgment and experience the two 
great land-marks of the plrysician — The value of woman's milk in this dis- 
ease—Case reported by Dr. Burroughs, an English East India physician — 
Dr. Mendon's case — Diet, regimen, &c. — Boerhaave's opinion of butter- 
milk — Dr. Barrington's opinion — Prescription — The kind of air proper for 
consumptives — Coltsfoot flowers, tusseligo, and hone)' — Shell fish, game, 
Port wine — Confection of red roses an important remedy — Tonic cordial — 
Pulverized Peruvian bark superior to quinine — Mode of prescribing it — Eco- 
nomical method for making lime-water — A medicinal Preparation for colds, 
coughs, and consumption, of extraordinary efficacy, and in which there is 
no failure — Nitrous acid for night-sweats — Recipe — CASES 241-248 

CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

Immense advantage to patients of applying early for treatment — A speedy, 
safe, and permanent cure the result — Disadvantages of procrastination — 
Cure thereby rendered more tedious and difficult — How much depends upon 
the prudence and judgment of the 'physician ! — Injudicious treatment pro- 
ductive of the saddest consequences — Improper mercurial treatment often 
the cause of consumption — Mercurial palsy — Thirteen years' experience 
and observation in Venereal Practice — Extensive prevalence of nervous de- 
bility — It is seen everywhere — Its melancholy effects — Family or general 
practitioners debarred by " professional etiquette" from treating private 
diseases — What they do and do not, when consulted in such cases — They 
never ask : " Do you commit self- abuse?" — The reason for this — One of the 
bad consequences of masturbation — The benefits conferred upon patients 
through the medium of specialities — Their encouraging effects upon patients 
manifest — Wherefore? — The author deems it not only desirable, but indis- 
pensable, to see his patients in all cases of spermatorrhoea , wherein the 
party desires a speedy cure, by means of the Medicated Bougie — The pre- 
sumable reason why certain " doctors " do not desire to see their patients — 
No honest physician declines seeing his patients — Author's suggestion to 
patients — Write first, call afterwards ; thus all unpleasantness is obvia- 
ted — Advantages of this plan — Benefits resulting to patients by the faculty 
ignoring sexual diseases — Nervous debility not always the result of sper- 
matorrhoea or sexual abuses — The general or' ordinary practitioner 
does not, unfortunately for the patient, make any distinction on this head, 
hence the danger of his treatment — The dilemma in which this places pa- 
tients who consult the " family physician" — The case not being understood, 
through mutual embarrassment and reserve, is consequently maltreated — 
Aim of this Book — Dr. Franklin's observation respecting self-treatment — 
Stupid and sinister attempts of quacks at beguiling the afflicted into becom- 
ing their own physicians — The result— Author's opinion and desire on this 
subject 249-256 

APPENDIX. 

To the Public 259-263 

Interesting Information 264-269 

Particular Notice — " Carping Cavilers " 270-271 

Scrofula and Skin Diseases — Author's Theory 
of Life and Death 272 



INTRODUCTION. 



The following pages have been written for the pur- 
pose of communicating instruction to intelligent 
Young Men on subjects of most vital importance. 
The fearful extent of the ravages of the diseases, 
and habits noticed, are sufficient to justify the most 
vigorous measures for suppressing them. All that 
can at present be done, is to enlighten the public 
upon their nature and results, and thus assist in 
spreading that information which is destined in a 
future age to wellnigh extinguish vice and disease. 

It appears to me there never was a period in 
which a correct system of medical and surgical 
practice was more imperiously demanded than the 
present ; for the science of medicine is, as taught 
at most of the medical schools, a perfect chaos. 
There are so many theories, so many modes of 
treating disease, such discordant sentiments enter- 
tained, both by physicians and the community at 
large, on the subject of medicine, that duty requires 
every exertion to be made to rescue the healing art 
from the intricacy and maze in which it has unfor- 
tunately become involved. 

My primary object in laboring in the field of 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

Medical Eeform is now, and has ever been, to clear 
away the rubbish of former as well as of present 
medical theories, and amid their wreck to collect 
whatever materials might be found, from all proper 
sources, for the construction of a new edifice, rest- 
ing on a broader and more durable foundation. 

" The present period may be emphatically denomi- 
nated an age of investigation and improvement ; 
and, when truth is plainly presented to the honest 
mind, it seldom fails of receiving a cordial welcome. 
In the arts and sciences in general greater re- 
searches and discoveries have been made than at 
any former period. In respect to steamboats, rail- 
roads, education, and various other matters, the 
human mind has achieved wonders, and given ample 
proof of its divine origin. Unfortunately, however, 
for suffering humanity, the healing art, in the opin- 
ion of those who are regarded as^the most learned 
and skilful, has advanced scarcely any in this 
country, and forms a lamentable contrast to the 
progress made in other departments. But when we 
turn our eyes to the Eclectic Medical School, we 
are greeted with the most cheering prospects. Here 
comparatively in a short space of time, principles 
have been developed and improvements made, 
which have kept pace with those in other branches 
of art and science 5 the old building with its rubbish 
has been torn down and cleared away, and an 
edifice erected, which, if not finished, is rapidly 
progressing, and requires but a few more efforts to 
complete it. We may, therefore, say with the great 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

political reformer, Thomas Jefferson. 'We are in 
the full tide of successful experiment.' " * 

In France and the United States, the Eclectic 
Practice is now most extensively adopted, not only 
by the members of the Eclectic College, but also 
by many of the old school practitioners, who admit 
that what before was conjecture they now can re- 
duce to a certainty. 

My object in returning to America was to en- 
deavor to establish the Eclectic System of Medicine 
in Sexual Diseases particularly, and up to the pres- 
ent time my success has been even greater than I 
anticipated. I know I shall long have to contend 
against bigotry, monopoly, and a host of minor 
evils ; but feeling that I have the truth on my side, 
I stand prepared for all the force that prejudice and 
ignorance can bring to bear against me. 

It will be asked, why I confine myself to special, 
nervous, and consumptive diseases, &c, in prac- 
tice ? For this I have the following reasons, and I 
know they will be considered sufficient. In the first 
place, I so practice, because for years I devoted my 
whole attention to that class of diseases, and have 
ever been rewarded with success ; and in the 
second place, and perhaps a more cogent reason 
than the former, I found the state of medical 
knowledge in this country upon those all-important 
diseases so woefully deficient that I concluded I 
should be but imperfectly acting the part of a 

* Extract from the Author's History of Medicine. New York, 

1851. 

2 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

Medical Reformer if I did not attack and overthrow 
those points that most required it. The mode of 
treating nervous and mental diseases in America 
has neither science nor common sense for its foun- 
dation. Blistering, bleeding, setons, mercury, and 
all the dreadful life-destroying array of old but 
still-existing remedies, must be done away with ; 
and in their place I will introduce a series of natu- 
ral remedies, safe and simple in their operation, but 
at the same time most certain and effectual. 

To Time, the great umpire between men and sys- 
tems, I am content to submit, fully believing that 
that which is true can never be lost. 

It would have been in keeping with the nature of 
this volume, to have, in the introduction, said 
something about the foolish prudery so prevalent 
in this country, which fosters in its bosom terrible 
vices ; but as I have entered at some length upon 
that subject in the body of the work, it may be 
omitted here. 



PAET I 



A SERIES OF 



ORIGINAL PRACTICAL ESSAYS. 



RICORD'S PRACTICE, 

ESTABLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, A. B., 1850. 

Introduced through the Newspaper Press, June, 1854. 

Popularly Explained, March, 1858. 



PART I. 



ESSAY THE FIRST. 



The object of this Essay, as its title implies, is simply to 
give (it is believed for the first time) the non-medical reader 
a concise and plain idea of Ricord's Practice, as contradistin- 
guished from the old and exploded ultra-Mercurial or empi- 
rical method of treating this class of diseases — a method by 
which thousands are annually destroyed, through the vulgar 
charlatanism of the times, and hurried into untimely graves. 

Under cover of false names, and generally through the 
medium of newspapers, placards, or filthy books, the country 
is nearly overrun by a horde of ignorant and mercenary indi- 
viduals who pretend to " cure" these all-important, aye, vital 
diseases, both Seminal and Venereal ; and, it was with a view 
of opening the eyes of the afflicted to a subject so pregnant 

* First published in March, 1858. 



30 ricord's practice explained. 

with importance to the human family, and especially to the 
rising generation and their future progeny, that the writer 
has been induced to take up his pen to attempt an explana- 
tion of the difference between Medical Science and medical 
vandalism, in the Treatment of these diseases. 

With these few preliminary remarks, I proceed at once 
with the subject in hand. 

That important branch of Medical Science, the diagnosis 
and treatment of the large class of diseases popularly termed 
" Secret Diseases," has, at all times, and in most countries, 
engaged, as indeed from its vital importance it should, the 
attention and profound research of every truly benevolent 
surgeon ; but, at no time, and in no country, perhaps, have 
those labors been so successfully prosecuted as in France, 
within the past twenty-five or thirty years. 

Several years since, Dr. Ph. Record, Chief Surgeon of 
the Paris Civil Venereal Hospital, commonly known as the 
Hopital du Midi, deduced from an extended series of 
observations and experiments on the inoculation of the 
poison of Syphilis, or specific primary chancre, consist- 
ing of many hundred cases, certain conclusions of great 
value, which he has given to the Profession in an important 
(scientific) work, entitled " A Practical Treatise on Venereal 
Diseases ; or, Critical and Experimental Researches on In- 
oculation, as applied to the Study of these Diseases." Paris, 
1838. 

In presenting this brief Synopsis — this bird's-eye view, as 
it were — of Ricord's Practice to the reader, I do not know 
that I can give a better general idea of it, than to say it is 
the modern and only rational system of Venereal Practice 
extant ; combining, as it does, in a pre-eminent degree, rapidi- 
ty of cure with entire and permanent safety to the constitu- 
tion ; while it expressly rejects the old, empirical, secret and 
hazardous employment of such pretended " specifics " as mer- 
cury, copaiba, cubebs, &c, &c, <fcc. In Syphilis, Gonor- 



ricord's practice explained. 31 

rhoea, — and all other diseases of the sexual system so wretch- 
edly botched by the charlatans of the day, through the 
barbarous use of Mercury and Nitrate of Silver, particularly, 
to say nothing of the disgusting medicines, cauterization, 
" curative instruments," etc., so vauntingly bepufFed in the 
newspapers, — the vast superiority of Kicord's Practice, 
by reason of the celerity,* certainty, and great mildness of the 
means which it employs, is now, and has been for the last 
twenty .years, fully admitted and established beyond the 
reach of doubt or further cavil. 

Ricord does not proscribe the judicious use of those or 
any other suitable medicaments, by any means, in the treat- 
ment of Syphilis proper, or in that of Gonorrhoea (clap) , 
&c. ; but he does, very properly, denounce the ignorant and 
indiscriminate use (or rather abuse) of them, in cases and 
under circumstances which would be highly unfavorable to 
their proper action. For instance, mercury should only be em- 
ployed in certain conditions of true syphilis — never in gonor- 
rhoea, gleet, &c. ; neither is it to be resorted to in simple 
venereal sores, or in those chancres of a non-specific (non-inoc- 
ulable) character. Neither does this distinguished surgeon 
allow that mercury, copaiba, cubebs, and the like, either simple 
or compound, are positive remedies at all, or to be implicitly 
relied on, by the intelligent physician, for the cure of gonor- 
rhoea! or kindred complaints ; hence he denies that they are 
specifics, or medicines which are by any means certain to cure 
these maladies. But he recommends the rational and scientific 
employment of said medicaments, nevertheless, in accordance 
with the general and fundamental principles of Medicine ; 



* In recent cases, a cure by this excellent method may be effected in a 
very few days, thus doing- away with the necessity of taking much medicine, 
so disagreeable to most persons ; neither is any particular change required in 
the patient's ordinar} r habits, diet, or business pursuits : and further, he may 
be treated by Letter, if the case be well described, &c, by reason of the com- 
pactness and unsuspicious nature of the Remedies, which are absolutely free 
from taste and odor, and may be readily carried about in one's pocket, with- 
out any inconvenience or fear of detection whatever. 



32 ricord's practice explained. 

whereas the empiric, or quack, uses those powerful remedies 
as certain means of cure, in all cases, and upon a stereotyped 
or fixed plan, if one may so term it. And, so far as mercury 
in the treatment of syphilitic or venereal, as well as of 
gonorrhoeal diseases was concerned, (for those appellations 
used to be, before the time of Ricord, synonymous terms), 
even many of the old regular surgeons, from Paracelsus down, 
were in the habit — a fatal one truly — of employing it in the 
same empirical way that our quacks do at the present day ; 
and, of course, with about the same horrible results to the un- 
fortunate patient. It is through the indiscriminate use of 
these potent medicines, particularly mercury, injections of 
nitrate of silver, etc., by the incompetent, that those terrible 
deformities and suffering which we sometimes behold with a 
shudder of indescribable disgust or pity ensue, to embitter 
the remainder of the unhappy victim's life — and, it may be, 
the lives of his friends also. 

It was from having such miserable spectacles constantly 
presented to his attention, in his professional capacity at the 
Hospitals, that determined the Author more than anything 
else, perhaps, to visit Paris, and there study, under the clini- 
cal teachings of the great Venereal Surgeon of France, the 
best method of treating these diseases, in all their variety ; 
and subsequently to return home, after an absence of some 
five years most profitably spent — almost exclusively in study- 
ing, practically, this important Branch of the Healing Art 
at the famous Hospital du Midi — and publicly practice his 
Specialty in this city ; thus endeavoring to do for New York, 
what Ricord has so successfully accomplished for Paris, 
namely — to rescue the unfortunate from ever ruthless char- 
latanry, by instituting, so far as in him lay, an improved, 
rational, and successful Treatment for this mischievous class 
of complaints, at moderate cost, within the means of most per- 
sons — thus doing away with the exhorbitant fees which some 
individuals engaged in this line of practice are in the habit 



SEMINAL DISEASES. 33 

of demanding : the object being to extend the benefits of this 
Treatment to All. And, he may add, he has every reason 
to feel satisfied at the result of his efforts in this cause, during 
the past eight years. 



SEMINAL DISEASES. — Spermatorrhea, Emissions, 
Debility, Impotence, &c, the results of a Self-Abuse," and 
other causes. — The foregoing remarks on Ricord ? s Practice 
apply most significantly to these delicate and highly important 
complaints, as no class of diseases is less understood or more 
badly managed by the empirics of the present time. I know 
of no treatment so reprehensible and useless as the much 
boasted one by cauterization — a plan which Lallemand, a 
French surgeon, introduced in France many years ago. Hav- 
ing little or no merit in the vast majority of cases, it was 
soon consigned to oblivion by the practical surgeons of 
Europe, only to find favor, at the hands of certain persons, in 
this country. The only true plan of eradicating these com- 
plaints, is that which is based on the general principles of 
medical science — the method of Ricord. This method in 
connection with the Medicated Bougie, which is an improve- 
ment of my own, I have found implicit — the other, or cauter- 
ization, not only utterly fallacious, but hazardous in the extreme, 
from its natural tendency to produce enlargement of the pros- 
tate gland, permanent nervous irritation at the neck of 
the bladder (so annoying to the sufferer) , spasmodic stricture, 
swelled testicle, &c. In a word, those who have experienced 
the evils here alluded to, not only through the instrumentality 
of " patent " medicines and cauterization, but by the use of 
" spermatorrhoea rings," wooden blocks, metallic instruments, 
varicocele trusses, and similar modes of worse than inquisi- 
torial torture, need not be advised by me to avoid the same : 
while the unscathed who may read these lines will, if they 
are wise, be cautious how they " meddle with edge-tools " of 
this description. 



34 SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT DISEASES. 

Enumeration of some of the more Important Diseases 
of the Sexual System. — For the better information of the 
afflicted, I will mention the names of some of the more im- 
portant diseases of this class, and also of one or two com- 
plaints which, if not belonging to the sexual system, strictly 
considered, are none the less frequent causes of some of the 
■ most annoying sexual diseases : — Syphilis (commonly known 
as " the venereal," or " pox/' in all its forms ; Gonorrhoea,* 
or " clap ; " Gleet, or chronic discharge from the urinary 
passage ; Stricture, or narrowing of the urinary passage — 
these two last are generally the results of badly treated gonor- 
rhoea ; Irritable Bladder — producing Incontinence of Urine ; 
Enlargement of the Testicles ; Malformations and Deformi- 
ties of the penis f and vagina ; Seminal Emissions (by some 
called "spermatorrhoea"), commonly caused by self-abuse, 
and terminating in Impotence ; General Nervous Debili- 
ty, the patient expressing himself as " neither sick nor w r ell," 
but deficient in nervous energy ; Varicocele, or enlargement 
of the spermatic veins within the scrotum (envelope of the 
testicles), which, by their pressure upon the seminal vessels, 
become a frequent though unsuspected cause of impotence. 
These swollen veins may be felt by pressing upon the upper 
part of the scrotum, just above the left testicle, and much 
resemble to the touch a knot or string of worms. Varico- 
cele is commonly a painless disease, but should never be neg- 
lected, as it can generally be cured without an operation — 
by a properly contrived appliance, easily adjusted by the pa- 
tient. Piles are, also, a prolific source of seminal irritation, 
lascivious dreams, emissions, &c, &c. This disease is 
sometimes present unknown to the patient. It is astonishing 



* The remarkable celerity and ease with which this otherwise baffling dis- 
ease is cured by Ricord's system, strikingly illustrates its superiority over the 
tedious methods adopted by those who are either obstinately, ignorantly, or 
through bigotry attached to those obsolete modes of cure. 

f Phymosis, or unnatural elongation and contraction of the fore-skin, may, 
by judicious treatment, be frequently remedied without an operation. 



SYNOPSIS OF SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES. 35 

to me that a complaint of such importance, and having so 
many who profess to cure it, should be so prevalent and in- 
curable — especially when it may be readily prevented, 
and cured, also, if properly understood and treated. I have 
seldom been baffled in soon curing even the worst cases of 
blind and bleeding piles. Neither the knife or ligature 
should be resorted to for the cure of any case of piles, where 
no actual organic difficulty exists. 



* SYNOPSIS OF SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES. 

1. Syphilis — Chancre : — Inflammation, pimple, slight red- 
ness, pain, swelling ; ulcer or sore, with hard, uneven edges, 
surface yellow or grayish ; commonly situated on fore-skin, 
head, or body of penis, and occasionally in urinary passage ; 
ulcer circular, oblong, deep, or superficial. 

2. Syphilitic Bubo : — Swelling of a gland in one or both 
groins, commencing slowly, but with pain, stiffness, and 
uneasiness in walking ; at first feels like a small, round, hard 
tumor, gradually increasing in size, pain, inflammation, &c, 
finally becoming an abscess if not prevented. 

3. Constitutional Syphilis : — Sore throat, with ulcera- 
tion ; spots or sores on different parts of the body ; painful 
swellings of the periosteum and bones, called nodes ; fever, 
general uneasiness, rottenness, gradual exhaustion, &c. 
Causes : — Impure connection, syphilitic inoculation. 

4. Gonorrhcea : — White, yellowish, or bloody discharge 
from urinary canal, at first transparent and thin, then thick ; 
pain or scalding in passing urine ; painful erections (chordee) ; 
pain more severe, discharge copious ; occasional swelling in 



* The above is intended merely to give the reader a general idea ; for full 
description, see " Medical Information," &c, referred to at the end of this 
book. 



36 SYNOPSIS OF SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES. 

the groins, (sympathetic bubo); contraction or retraction of 
fore-skin, (phymosis or paraphimosis) ; fever ; pain extends 
towards the fork as disease advances ; pain and occasional 
swelling of testes, (swelled testicle). Cause : — Impure con- 
nection. 

5. Gleet : — Thin or thick, white or yellowish discharge 
from the urethra or urinary passage, without pain ; discharge 
generally small in quantity and white like cream. Causes : 
— Xeglected gonorrhoea, self-abuse, straining, costiveness, 
diarrhoea, <fcc. 

6. Stricture : — Gradual narrowing of urethra, stream 
of urine becoming smaller, twisted, curved, split or forked ; 
frequent desire to pass urine ; a few drops remaining after, 
wetting the linen. Causes : — Xeglected gleet, injections, 
injudicious treatment of gonorrhoea, resulting in a thickening 
of the lining of the urethra ; self-abuse, &c. 

The symptoms and causes of the above six forms of dis- 
ease, are about the same in both sexes ; but in some cases, 
other symptoms may exist, while in others some of those 
above mentioned may be altogether absent. They usually 
appear in from three to seven days after an impure connection, 
in recent cases. If attended to at once, on the earliest ap- 
pearance of any of the symptoms after a suspicious con- 
nection, the disease may be generally cured immediately, if 
properly treated : and, it is also a good rule, to apply to an 
experienced surgeon even before any decided signs of disease 
have manifested themselves, if the connection has been a 
doubtful one — prevention being better than cure. 

7. Semixal Emissions : — Lassitude, nervousness, weakness 
of the lower limbs, palpitation of the heart, appetite poor or 
excessive, pains in the back, dimness of vision, specks be- 
fore the eyes, dullness of mind, deficient memory, want of 
power to fix the mind on any one subject, melancholy, emacia- 
tion, gloomy thoughts of suicide, fear of death, aversion to 



SYNOPSIS OF SYMPTOMS AND CAUSES. 31 

society, timidity, love of solitude, incapacity for study, diz- 
ziness, want of self-confidence, headache, weakness and redness 
of the eyes, pimples, lascivious dreams, nocturnal and diurnal 
discharges of semen ; semen in the urine ; dislike to females ; 
inability to cohabit, from loss of power of erection or too 
sudden escape of the seminal fluid ; idiocy, insanity. Cause : 
Masturbation. [See Part II.] 

\* I would here observe, distinctly, that M. Eicord em- 
phatically denies the infallibility of Mercury, in the cure ol 
Syphilitic Diseases. 



ESSAY THE SECOND. 



ON INOCULATION, AS APPLIED TO THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT 
OF SYPHILITIC DISEASES. 

" I know it will be said, that diffusing medical knowledge among the people 
might induce them to tamper with medical science, and to trust to their own 
skill, instead of calling upon a physician or surgeon. The reverse of this, 
however, is true. Persons who have most knowledge in these matters, are 
commonly most ready both to ask and follow advice, when it is necessary. 
The ignorant are always most apt to tamper with medicine. Instances of this 
are daily to be met with among the ignoranV — Earle. 

Both before and since the time of Hunter, inoculation 
has been employed for the purpose of testing the character of 
syphilitic diseases : and at the present day, M. Ricord, Sur- 
geon to the Parisian Civil Venereal Hospital [Hopital du 
Midi), has deduced, from an extended series of experiments, 
certain conclusions of great value and importance, which he 
has given to the world in his great work, " Traite pratique 
des Maladies Yeneriennes, ou Recherches critiques et experi- 
mentales sur lTnoculation, appliquee a l'etude de ces Mala- 
dies."* 

M. Ricord establishes, in the first place, that a chancre, 
wherever it may be seated, is produced by a specific matter, 
which is secreted by a chancre only, which matter produces 
a similar disease whenever placed in circumstances favorable 
to contagion.f 

This specific matter is only produced from the surface of a 
chancre during its first stage, that is, during the period of 
ulceration, or when the sore is indolent or stationary. At 
these periods oniy does a chancre give us a specific matter 

* Paris, 1838. f Parker, London. 



SYPHILITIC INOCULATION. 39 

capable of producing a similar disease by inoculation. When 
the sore begins to heal and a process of reparation has com- 
menced, it is merely a simple ulcer, does not furnish a specific 
matter, and is not capable of propagation by inoculation. 

If matter be taken from a chancre during the period of 
ulceration, and introduced under the skin by means of a lan- 
cet, it produces the following effects : — During the first four 
and twenty hours the puncture becomes more or less in- 
flamed ; from the second to the third day it is accompanied 
with a slight tumefaction, and presents the appearance of a 
small pimple surrounded with a red ring ; from the third to 
the fourth day the disease assumes a blister-like form, the skin 
being raised by a fluid more or less opaque, presenting at its top 
a small dark point ; from the fourth to the fifth day the con- 
tents of the blister become purulent, the top of the pock de- 
pressed, resembling very much the pock of small-pox. At 
this period the ring, which had progressively increased, begins 
to diminish or altogether disappears, particularly if the dis- 
ease does not increase : after the fifth day, however, the sub- 
jacent and surrounding tissues, which hitherto had undergone 
little or no modification, or were merely slightly swollen, be- 
come hardened by the extravasation of a plastic lymph, 
which communicates to the touch the resistance and elasticity 
of cartilage. After the sixth day the contents of the pustule 
thicken, the pock itself shrivels up, and is covered with 
crusts. These enlarge toward their base, and forming by 
successive layers, at length assume the form of a flattened 
pyramid with a depressed top. If these crusts are detached, 
or if they fall off, we find under them an ulcer with the hard 
base of which we have spoken, extending through the whole 
thickness of the skin. The surface of this ulcer, with a deep 
red color, is foul, covered with a thick adhesive matter, al- 
most like a false membrane, which cannot be removed by any 
attempt to clean the sore. The edges of the ulceration at 
this period appear as though it had been dug out from the 



40 SYPHILITIC INOCULATION. 

surrounding parts by a sharp circular instrument. The im- 
mediate vicinity of the sore is surrounded by a red, dark, or 
livid margin, more elevated than the surrounding parts. 

M. Eicord farther establishes that chancre in its com- 
mencement is purely a local disease ; that constitutional or 
secondary affections can only take place after this antecedent ; 
that they do not occur in all cases, and only after the lapse 
of a certain period of time. 

Whatever may be the varieties and complications which 
subsequently follow or accompany the inoculated chancre, 
the progress of the latter is in all instances such as we have 
described it. The pock-like form of incipient chancre is 
only wanting when the parts to which the poison is applied 
are destitute of skin or epithelium, and it is only preceded by 
inflammation when the maiter has been introduced into the 
subcutaneous cellular tissue under the skin, or into the ab- 
sorbent system. 

The ulcerations completely destroyed or arrested on the 
third, fourth, or fifth day from the application of poison are 
not liable to secondary inflammation. It is not before the 
fifth day that the induration of chancres commonly com- 
mences, and it is the indurated chancre that is most fre- 
quently followed by secondary symptoms ; this induration 
seems to indicate that the affection has become in some 
measure already constitutional ; as long as there is no indu- 
ration we may suppose the disease to be merely local. 

The varied appearance which primary venereal sores pre- 
sent (says M. Ricord) has given rise to arguments against the 
identity of the venereal virus, and has led to the promulgation 
of the theory of a plurality of venereal poisons. Inoculation, 
however, sets this matter at rest, for whatever may be the 
actual character of the sore from which we take the matter, 
provided it be taken during the first stage of chancre, that 
of ulceration or indolence, we obtain by inoculation a regular 
pock when the matter is introduced beneath the skin ; an 



SYPHILITIC INOCULATION. 41 

ulcer when it is applied to a denuded surface ; and an abscess 
when introduced into the cellular tissue, or into the lymphatic 
system. 

The various characters of chancres or primary venereal 
sores, are due to circumstances which are foreign to the 
specific cause which produced them ; these are principally 
the particular constitution of the patient , his mode of living, 
the influence of any antecedent or present disease with which 
he may happen to be affected, and not least the local treatment 
of the sore. It is from one or many of these circumstances 
that we see bad conditioned ulcers in subjects who have con- 
tracted their disease from others affected with ulcers of the 
simplest character. 

The first stage of chancre, i. e., of ulceration or indo- 
lence, is the only one during which the disease is susceptible 
of propagation by inoculation ; the period of this stage is 
not limited, hence M. Ricord has known primary venereal 
sores capable of propagation after having continued eighteen 
months. 

The researches of M. Ricord on the nature and differential 
diagnosis of buboes are of equal interest with those which we 
have detailed on the subject of primary sores. According to 
this author, buboes are of two kinds, simply inflammatory, or 
virulent : in the first instance, succeeding to gonorrhoea, 
balanitis or any other primititive affection ; and in the second, 
from the consequences of the direct absorption of specific 
matter from a chancre. 

M. Ricord deduces from his experiments upon buboes in a 
condition of ulceration, the following conclusions : that a 
virulent bubo, or one resulting from the absorption of 
the specific pus from a chancre, is a disease precisely 
similar to chancre, merely differing from it in its seat, and 
the anatomical organization of the parts affected ; that this 
species of bubo is the only one capable of producing a pock 
by inoculation ; that the symptoms hitherto indicated by 



42 SYPHILITIC INOCULATION. 

authors, with a view of establishing the differential diagnosis 
between a true virulent bubo and one merely inflammatory, 
are of little value, inoculation being the only certain and 
pathognomonic sign. 

M. Ricord admits the existence of buboes which are not 
preceded by any other syphilitic affection : these make their 
appearance at a certain period after an impure connexion, 
without the intervention of chancres, gonorrhoea, balanitis, or 
other form of primary irritation. The existence of these 
buboes is admitted by Fallopius, Astruc, Swediaur, Bertrande, 
and lately by Dr. Mondret, in a memoir inserted in the 
" Recueil periodique de la Societe de Medecine," for August 
1837. These buboes are termed by the French surgeons 
" bubons d'emblee," and may be either simply inflammatory 
or syphilitic. 

With reference to the test of inoculation, some degree of 
difference of opinion exists, although M. Eicord states that 
the reason of this is, that the experiments have not been 
made in a proper manner. — On this point we consider this 
author's opinions worthy of great attention. Whenever in- 
flammation and suppuration of the cellular tissue, or lymphatic 
glands of the groin, are owing to any other cause than the 
occurrence of chancre, the matter produced furnishes no result 
from inoculation, at whatever periods and under whatever 
circumstances the test may be made. Neither does it follow, 
of necessity, that buboes succeeding to true chancres will fur- 
nish a specific matter ; and consequently, by inoculation, a 
characteristic pock. That this may occur it is necessary that 
the bubo shall not merely be owing to a simple sympathetic 
inflammation, but that actual absorption of the specific mat- 
ter of the chancre shall have taken place. When absorption 
of the matter from a chancre on the genitals takes place, it 
is generally confined to the superficial glands of the groin ; 
and most frequently the syphilitic poison is conveyed to one 
gland only, although many of the glands in the immediate vi- 



SYPHILITIC INOCULATION. 43 

cinity of the latter, both superficial and deep seated, are in- 
flamed, and suppurate at the same time, so that the matter 
taken from one gland shall be purely syphilitic, and give rise, 
by inoculation, to the characteristic pustule, whilst those in 
its immediate neighborhood, and the cellular tissue, shall be 
affected by simple phlegmonoid inflammation, the pus from 
which shall, when tested by inoculation, give a negative re- 
sult* 

It may be very readily conceived, that the irritation pro- 
duced by the passage of the syphilitic poison through a lym- 
phatic vessel and ganglion may excite in the neighboring or- 
gans an inflammation which is not specific, but merely inflam- 
matory, and this appears to be the true nature of the case. 
M. Kicord opened a bubo which had succeeded to a chancre, 
the pus from which produced no result by inoculation. In 
the centre of the abscess he discovered an enlarged lymphatic 
gland, presenting an evident fluctuation ; this was punctured 
and tested by inoculation, the characteristic pock of chancre 
was obtained. 

Discharges from the urethra are of two kinds, resulting 
either from the existence of a true syphilitic ulcer in some 
part of the passage, or owing to gonorrhoea properly so called. 
Chancres, or syphilitic ulcers of the urethra, are in all respects, 
except situation, of the same character as other primary 
sores, and give rise to the same results when the matter is 
tested by inoculation. 

The matter of gonorrhoea applied upon a mucous surface 
(the lining of the urethra, mouth, eyelids, nose, etc.), produces 
an inflammation and discharge of the same character. In no 
instance can it produce a true syphilitic sore ; although by 
remaining in contact with a mucuous surface for a certain 
period of time, it may occasion a greater or less degree of ex- 
coriation, but is not capable of producing a specific ulcer, as 

* See Ricord, op. cit. p. 142 et suivantes. 



44 SYPHILITIC INOCULATION. 

the researches of Ricord* Hernandez,f and others incontest- 
ably prove. 

The diseases which are consecutive to gonorrhoea, as sym- 
pathetic buboes, &c, do not produce matter capable of pro- 
ducing a specific ulcer by inoculation, neither do secondary 
or constitutional symptoms ever succeed to a simple gonorr- 
hoea. M. Ricord thinks that in the rare cases where second- 
ary symptoms have been said to have followed a simple gon- 
orrhoea, that the diagnosis of the primitive disease has been 
inexact, that the diseased surfaces have not been properly ex- 
amined, and the cases have been concealed chancres of the 
urethra, and not gonorrhoea. It is also extremely probable 
that such were the forms of disease which embarrassed Dr. 
Wallace, who says that he had met with some forms of dis- 
charges from the urethra, which were beneficially influenced 
by mercury, and which he was unable to cure without its ex- 
hibition. 

The matter of gonorrhoea, tested by inoculation, gives no 
result ; it may be followed by inflammation, but never pro- 
duces a specific sore : injected into the urethra it produces 
a disease* like that of which it is the product ; applied exter- 
nally between the glans and prepuce it occasions inflamma- 
tion and discharge, balanitis, or external gonorrhoea : a sim- 
ilar effect follows its application upon other mucous sur- 
faces. One remark may be made here, in concluding the ac- 
count of the results obtained by Ricord from inoculation as a 
means of diagnosis in syphilitic diseases, that when it is resort- 
ed to in cases of uncertainty, we are to test the matter frequent- 
ly from day to day, during the whole process of disease ; for, as 
in other instances, we may here find that, although we have 
not succeeded in obtaining a result from the first, second, or 



* Me moires, sur que! que s Faits observes a PHopital des Veneriens, par P. 
Ricord. Memoires de PAcademie Royale de Medecine. Tome 2me. 

f Essai analytique sur la Nonidentite des Virus gonorrhoique et syphili- 
tique ; par J. F. Hernandez. Toulon, 1812. Art. iv. 



SYPHILITIC INOCULATION. 45 

even third puncture, we may eventually do so ; daily experi- 
ence in other diseases, vaccination in cowpox, inoculation in 
smallpox, &c, showing that, from circumstances we cannot 
appreciate, the first puncture may not succeed, when a second 
or third will be followed by a characteristic pustule.* 



* Inexperienced persons are hereby cautioned against experimenting with. 
Inoculation ; it is safe only in the hands of the adept in Venereal Practice. 



ESSAY THE THIRD. 

[From lt Medical Information for the Million," etc.] 

SOLITAKY HABIT. 

WRITTEN ESPECIALLY AS A WARNING TO YOUTH, 
NOT TO FRIGHTEN, BUT TO AWAKEN. 



" To the pure all things are pure." 



' You think 'tis nothing ! — 'tis a crime, believe ! 
A crime so great you scarcely can conceive. ' ' Martial. 



" No theological influence," observes Fontaine, " has been 
found sufficient to check the horrid vice of Onanism, or self- 
pollution ; no faith in religion ; no exhortations to vice ; no 
threatenings of future retribution. In religious seminaries, 
in convents and monasteries, in nunneries and in the bosom 
of the church, it has too often developed itself, and committed 
its most terrible ravages," It is our lot, the province of the 
physician, to give with effect a scientific and familiar descrip- 
tion of the train of evils which are produced by the various 
conditions of venereal excess. We shall do this to the best 
of our knowledge and abilities, and then will follow a few 
prescriptions of medical treatment for the afflicted of both 
sexes, who are the victims of these irregularities. A timely 
remedy, applied with skill and properly persevered in, can 
alone save the unhappy votary of this deplorable and raging 
vice from misery, agony, and despair. 

Among the evils of life, there is not one to be more dread- 



SOLITARY HABIT. 4t 

ed than the habit of masturbation, or self-abuse. It destroys 
the strongest constitution, it lays the finest intellect in ruins. 
Yet in spite of all this havoc, of this terrible picture, of these 
awful examples, how many of the youth of both sexes, and 
often those supposed by society to be the most pure, most 
correct, most virtuous, are plunging themselves deeper and 
deeper into the vortex of this secret sin. Their exhausted 
strength and broken-down systems, and their self-delusions 
unfit them for the enjoyments of a pure, lawful love, and 
destroy their generative powers, thus trampling upon the 
Divine will, the dictates of a rational conscience, and making 
themselves suicides and murderers of the human race. 

The semen is the seed or prolific liquor of animals, secreted 
in the testicles, and carried through the seminal vessels into 
the ejaculatory ducts, to be emitted, sub coitu, into the female 
vagina, and there, by virtue of its ethereal principle, to pene- 
trate and impregnate the little egg in its ovary. 

In castrated animals, and in eunuchs, the seminal vessels 
are small and contracted ; and a little watery liquor, but no 
semen is found in them. The semen is detained for some 
time in these vessels, and rendered thicker from the continual 
absorption of its very thin part by the absorbents of the 
lymphatic vessels. In lascivious men and masturbators, the 
semen is propelled by nocturnal pollution from the vesicula 
seminales, through the ejaculatory ducts, which arise from the 
vesiculse seminales, perforate the urethra or water-passage 
transversely, and open themselves by narrow and highly ner- 
vous mouths into the uthera. But in chaste men, the greatest 
part is again gradually absorbed and conciliates strength to 
the body. The smell of the semen of quadrupeds, when at 
heat, is so penetrating as to render their flesh fetid and use- 
less for food, unless castrated. Thus the flesh of the stag, 
before coition, is unfit to eat. The taste of this fluid is in- 
sipid and somewhat acid or acrid. In the testicles its con- 
sistence is thin and diluted, but in the seminal ducts, viscid, 



48 SOLITARY HABIT. 

dense, and rather pellucid ; and by venery and debility it is 
rendered thinner. 

Examined by the microscope, a multitude of minute ani- 
mals are distinctly observed in it, which appear to have a 
round head and a long tail ; these animaliculae move with 
considerable rapidity ; they seem to fly the light and seek the 
shade. This fluid has also an odorous principle, which flies 
off immediately from fresh semen. It appears to consist of a 
peculiar vital principle, and by the ancients was called aura 
seminis, or seminal vapor. Emitted into the female vagina 
by coition, it possesses the wonderful power of impregnating 
the ovulum, or germ of the future child. The gross parts of 
the semen appear to be only a vehicle of the seminal aura, or 
vivifying principle. In chaste persons, the semen returning 
through the lymphatic vessels into the mass of the blood, gives 
strength to the whole body and mind : hence the bull is so 
fierce and brave, the castrated ox so gentle and weak ; hence 
every animal languishes post coition ; and hence diseases of 
the spine from Onanism. It is by the stimulus of the semen 
absorbed at the age of puberty into the mass of the humors, 
that the beard and hair of the different parts of the body, 
but in animals the horns, are produced, and the weeping 
simpering voice of the boy changed into that of the man. 

The great alteration which takes place in the body of the 
male at the time when the semen begins to be formed and 
collected, is so manifest, that it appears to the most common 
observer; for the rise and continuance of the beard, and 
the clothing of the pubes, depend thereon ; and a wonderful 
alteration takes place in the voice and passions of the mind, 
for the hitherto crying boy now becomes bold and intrepid, 
despising even real danger. 

These changes are prevented by destroying the organs which 
serve to separate the liquor that produces them ; and just 
observation evinces that the amputation of the testicles at the 
age of virility has made the beard fall, and a puerile voice re- 



SOLITARY HABIT. 49 

turn ! After this, can the power of its operation on the body 
be questioned ? Its destination determines the only proper 
method of its being evacuated. Certain distempers cause it 
sometimes to run' off'; it may be involuntarily lost in lascivious 
dreams, fyc. 

Nor is this to be observed only in mankind, but other ani- 
mals become fierce and vicious about the same time. The 
bull, a most fierce animal before he sets upon the venereal 
act, afterward becomes weak and languid ; and the unhappy 
people who have exhausted all the vigor of their bodies by 
too early and excessive venery, live enervated, and are subject 
to a numerous train of misery and disease. 

The natural irritation to venery scarce needs description : 
instinct is the spring in brutes ; and that, with reason, guides 
the rational being. Both are naturally satisfied when their 
desires are gratified. 

Immoderate use of coition, even in a natural way, depresses 
the spirits, relaxes the fibres, and renders the whole frame 
weak and exhausted : what, then, must be the consequences 
when nature is forced against her will ? Celsus says, that 
from the practice of self-pollution, young people are prevent- 
ed from their growth, and as it were, become old before their 
time. Saxctorius observes, that the insensible perspiration 
is diminished, and the concoctive faculties weakened, by ex- 
cess of venery ; and in his several aphorisms, reckons up the 
damage arising from this baneful habit. 

Hippocrates gives an account of two persons in fevers, 
brought on by excessive venery, one of whom escaped, not 
however without great difficulty, after a severe fit of sickness, 
which lasted till the twenty-fourth day ; and the other died of 
that weakness and debility which he had brought on himself 
by this most horrid and baneful practice of self-pollution. 

The same celebrated author, in treating of the many dis- 
eases which arise from venereal excesses, says, that " the 
Tabes Dorsalis, (which is a consumption of the spine) , hap- 
3 



50 SOLITARY HABIT. 

J 

pens to those who are over-lecherous in self-abuse, or lately 
married ; they are without a fever and eat heartily, but grad- 
ually waste away : and if you ask the patient how he is affect- 
ed, he will say, there appears to him as if ants were creeping 
down the spine (back bone) from the top of the head ; a 
great quantity of liquid semen is also discharged when he 
makes urine or goes to stool ; nor does he retain his semen 
in his sleep, but has involuntary emissions, whether he sleeps 
with his wife or not ; and when he takes much exercise he 
feels a great weariness and debility, a shortness of breath, a 
heaviness in the head, and a singing in the ears." 

Dr. Woodward, the sagacious superintendent of the 
Worcester Hospital, in his Fifth Annual Report of that 
institution, speaking of Masturbation or Onanism, says : — 

" No effectual means can be adopted to prevent the devastation of 
mind and body, and thc^lebasement of moral principle, from this cause, 
till the whole subject is well understood and properly appreciated by 
parents and instructors, as well as by the young themselves." 

And the following from the " Annals of Education," are 
the sentiments of William C. Woodbridge, the youth's friend 
and productive laborer in the noble cause of education. 
He says : — 

" A topic in physiology which ' a&ififial modesty ? has covered up, 
until a solitary, but fatal vice is spreading desolation through our 
schools and families, unnoticed or unknown. The experience of 
teachers, the case-books of physicians, and the painful exposures 
which accident, or the dreadful diseases which follow in its train, 
have occasionally produced, have at length forced it upon public at- 
tention ; and we hope it will not again be forgotten. We would warn 
them (parents and teachers) that those who have been most confident 
of the safety of their charge have often been most deceived ; and 
that the youthful bashfulness which seems to shrink from the bare 
mention of the subject, is sometimes the blush of shame for conceal- 
ed crime. We feel bound to add, what abundant and decisive evidence 
has shown, that ignorance on this subject is no protection from the 
vice ; nay, that it is often the original cause or encouragement of 



SOLITARY HABIT. 51 

it ; that it gives tenfold power to the evil example and influence 
which are so rarely escaped." 

Combe in " The Constitution of Man," of which he is 
the author, thus observes : — 

" The organ of Amativeness is the largest of the whole mental 
organs ; and being endowed with natural activity, it fills the mind 
spontaneously with emotions and suggestions, the outward manifesta- 
tions of which may be directed, controlled, and resisted, by intellect 
and moral sentiment, but which cannot be prevented from arising, or 
eradicated after they exist. The whole question, therefore, resolves 
itself into this — whether it is more beneficial to enlighten the under- 
standing, so as to dispose and enable it to control and direct that feel- 
ing, or (under the influence of an error in philosophy, and false deli- 
cacy founded on it) to permit it to riot in all the fierceness of blind 
animal instinct, withdrawn from the eye of reason, but not thereby 
deprived of its vehemence and importunity. The former course 
appears to me to be the only one consistent with reason and morality ; 
and I shall adopt it, in reliance on the good sense of my readers, that 
they at once discriminate between practical instruction concerning this 
feeling addressed to the intellect, and lascivious representations in 
obscene medical compilations (quack books) addressed to the propen- 
sity itself ; with the latter of which the enemies of all improvement 
may confound my observations. Every function of the mind and 
body is instituted by the Creator ; each has a legitimate sphere of 
activity ; but all may be abused, and it is impossible regularly to 
avoid the abuse of them, except by being instructed in their nature, 
objects, and relations. Tliis instruction ought to be addressed 
exclusively to the intellect; and when it is so, it is science of the 
most beneficial description." 

Onanism is " the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and 
the destruction that wasteth at noonday ; " neither is it con- 
fined to the obscure and the vicious, but pervades all ranks of 
society. " In my opinion," observes a French author, 
" neither the plague, nor war, nor small pox, nor similar dis- 
eases, have produced results so disastrous to humanity as the 
pernicious habit of Onanism ; it is the destroying element of 
civilized society, which is constantly in action, and gradually 
undermines the health ©f a nation." 



52 SOLITARY HABIT. 

Extract of a letter to Dr. Hammond, from Dr. C. 

" Brooklyn, December ldth, 1849. 

" In my own practice, I think I have seen the following results of 
masturbation — involuntary emissions, prostration of strength, paraly- 
sis of the limbs, hysteria, epilepsy, strange nervous affections, 
dyspepsia, hypochondria, spinal disease, pain in the back and limbs, 
costiveness — and, in fine, the long and dismal array of gastric, enteric, 
nervous and spinal affections, that are so complicated and difficult to 
manage." 



Such is the state of those deplorable victims, who, if they 
have not timely relief, perish with the Lypria, a most dread- 
ful disease, wherein the internal parts are consumed with a 
burning heat, and the external frozen with cold. All these 
complaints I have seen in patients who have indulged them- 
selves in foul pollutions : the symptoms I have generally ob- 
served were, violent pains wandering through the whole body, 
attended sometimes by a troublesome heat, and sometimes 
with dullness, especially in the loins, which complaints had 
continued for three, five, and even eight years, resisting all 
remedies, except the entire and total abstinence from the horrid 
practice, the use of the Yeratrum Yiride, the Medicated 
Bougie, temperance, cold bathing, &c. In one patient par- 
ticularly I observed, that after all the above pains were 
lessened, he felt a great pain in his legs and thighs, that he 
was obliged to sit by the fire-side even in the midst of 
summer, though when I felt his legs and thighs they seemed 
to have their proper natural warmth ; but what seemed 
to be most strange was, during this time the testicles were 
continually moving about in his scrotum, and he perceived 
the like motion in his limbs, with great pain. A similar 
case is likewise related (arising from the same cause) by 
Yan Sweiten, in his commentaries on Boerhaave. I have 
performed several operations on persons who had by thi? 
practice brought on a paraphymosis, by not being able to 



SOLITARY HABIT. 53 

bring the foreskin back to cover the nut of the penis, 
whereby the inflammation became so great, that an incision 
was absolutely necessary, to let out the acrid lymph and 
free the strangled glans. 

The consequences which attend this horrid practice, are 
as follows : 

1st. All the intellectual faculties are weakened, loss of 
memory ensues, the ideas are clouded, the patients sometimes 
fall into a slight madness : they have an incessant irksome 
uneasiness, continual anguish, and so keen a remorse of con- 
science, that they frequently shed tears. They are subject 
to vertigoes ; all their senses, but particularly their sight and 
hearing, are weakened ; their sleep, if they can obtain any, 
is disturbed with frightful dreams. 

2d. The powers of their bodies decay ; the growth of 
such as abandon themselves to these abominable practices, 
before it is accomplished, is greatly prevented ; some cannot 
sleep at all, others are in a perpetual state of drowsiness ; 
they are all affected with hysterical or hypochondriac com- 
plaints, and are overcome with the accidents that accompany 
those grievous disorders, as melancholy, sighing, tears, palpi- 
tations, suffocations and faintness. Some emit a calcarious 
saliva ; coughs, slow fevers, and consumptions, are chastise- 
ments which others meet with in their own crimes. 

3d. The most acute pains form another object of the pa- 
tients' complaints : some are thus affected in their heads, 
others in their breasts, stomachs, and intestines ; others have 
external rheumatic pains, aching numbness in all parts of 
the body, when they are slightly pressed. 

4th. Pimples not only appear in the face (this is one of 
the most common symptoms), but even real suppurating 
blisters upon the nose, the breast and thighs, with disagreea- 
ble itching on the same parts. 

5th. The organs of generation also participate in that mis- 



54 SOLITARY HABIT. 

ery whereof they are the primary causes : many patients are 
incapable of erection, others discharge their semen upon the 
slightest titillation or the most feeble erection, or in the 
efforts they make when at stool. Many are affected with a 
constant gonorrhoea which entirely destroys their powers, and 
the discharge resembles fetid matter or mucus ; others are 
tormented with painful priapisms, dysuriae, stranguries, heat 
of urine, and a difficulty of rendering it, which greatly tor- 
ments many patients. Some have painful tumors upon their 
testicles, penis, bladder, and spermatic cord. In a word, 
either the impracticability of coition, or a deprivation of the 
genital liquor, renders every one imbecile who has for any 
length of time given way to this crime. 

6th. The functions of the intestines are sometimes quite 
disordered, and some patients complain of stubborn constipa- 
tion ; others of the hemorrhoids, or of a running of a fetid 
matter from the fundament. 

This last observation recalls to my mind a young man men- 
tioned by Dr. Hoffman, who, after every masturbation was 
afflicted with a diarrhea, which was an additional cause of the 
loss of his strength, and soon reduced him to the state of a 
living skeleton. 

The laws of God, of Nature, and of Life, powerfully ad- 
monish parents, in their own personal sufferings, to reveal 
them to their offspring, rather than have such revealed to them 
only by the bitter experience of their violation. " Would it 
not be better, even in tender years, to possess a seeming 
premature, but protective and saving knowledge of our ex- 
istence, and of the natural laws, than to experience a destruc- 
tion of them from early ignorance ? Certainly ; and this 
maxim should be ever impressed upon our youth, as the re- 
sult of our own sorrowful experience. 

" The only amaranthine flower on earth 
Is Virtue. The only lasting treasure, Truth." 

The destructive and pernicious habit of Onanism, or self- 



SOLITARY HABIT. 55 

pollution, is recorded in the 38th chapter of Genesis, as the 
crime of Onan, the son of Judah, with a view, no doubt, of 
transmitting to posterity his chastisement ; and we learn 
from Galen, that Diogenes was said to have polluted himself 
by committing this crime. In Scripture, besides the instance 
of Onan, we find self-polluters termed effeminate, filthy, and 
abominable. 

" How soon the calm, humane, and polish'd man, 
Forgets compunction, and starts up a fiend. " — Armstrong. 

Pliny, the naturalist, informs us, that Cornelius Galicus, 
the ancient Praetor, and Titus JEtherus, the Roman knight, 
died in the very act of coition. There can be nothing more 
dreadful than what Celsus and JEtherus tell us of that 
abominable vice. The former says that " these pleasures are 
always hurtful to weak people, and the frequent indulgence 
of them destroys even the strongest constitutions." The last 
celebrated author draws a most horrid picture of the shocking 
consequences that are produced by this vile practice, and 
says that " young people have the appearance and air of old 
age ; they become pale, effeminate, benumbed, lazy, base, 
stupid, and even imbecile ; their bodies become bent, their 
legs are no longer able to carry them ; they have an utter 
distaste for everything, and are totally incapacitated, and 
many become paralytic. The stomach is disordered, the body 
is weakened, paleness, bodily decay, and emaciation succeed 
this destructive habit, and the eyes sink into the head." 

Dr. Trousseau draws the following lively and true picture 
of the consequences of this deluding practice : 

"As soon as the habit has obtained any degree of strength, the soul 
and body both concur in soliciting the crime ; the soul, beset with un- 
clean thoughts, excites lascivious emotions ; and if it be diverted for 
some moments by other ideas, the sharp humors which irritate the 
organs of generation, soon draw it back. The truth of these observa- 
tions would be sufficient to stop young people in this pernicious pro- 
gress, if they could foresee that in this respect one false step brings 
on another : that they cannot resist temptation ; that in proportion 



56 SOLITARY HABIT. 

as the motives for seduction increase, reason, which should keep 
them within bounds, is weakened ; and, in a word, they find them- 
selves plunged in a sea of misery, without, perhaps, the hope of a 
single plank to escape upon. If sometimes early infirmities give them 
notice, if the danger terrifies them for some moments ; when the in- 
firmity is relieved, and the danger over, rage precipitates them afresh. 

" The empire which this odious practice gains over the senses, is 
beyond expression. No sooner has this uncleanness got possession o 
the soul, but it pursues its votary everywhere, and governs him at all 
times and in all places. Upon the most serious occasions, and in the 
solemn act of religion, he finds himself in a manner transported with 
lustful conceptions and desires, which take up all his thoughts. 

" Nothing so much weakens the mind as the continual bent of it to 
one object, which is the case with those addicted to Onanism, for in 
whatever vocation a person is engaged, some degree of attention is 
required, which this pernicious practice renders them incapable of. 

" It is true we are ignorant whether the animal spirits and the 
seminal liquor are the same ; but experience teaches us those two 
fluids have a strict analogy, and that the loss of either produces the 
same effects. 

" The loss of too much semen occasions lassitude, debilities, and 
renders exercise difficult ; it causes emaciation, and pains in the 
membrane of the brain. 

" Young people of either sex who devote themselves to lascivious- 
ness, destroy their health in dissipating those powers which were 
destined to bring their bodies to the greatest degree of vigor. 

" Too great a quantity of semen being lost in the natural course, 
produces very direful effects ; but they are still more dreadful when 
dissipated in an unnatural manner. The accidents that happen to 
such as waste themselves in a natural way are very terrible, but those 
which are acquired by masturbation are still more so." 

The description which Tulpius, that celebrated physician 
and burgomaster of Amsterdam, has left us, cannot be read 
without horror ! " The spinal marrow does not only waste, 
but the body and mind both equally languish, and the man 
perishes a miserable victim ! " Too great dissipation of the 
animal spirits weakens the stomach, destroys the appetite, 
and nutrition having no longer place, the motion of the heart 
is weakened, and all the parts languish. 

Frequent pollutions not only produce lassitude, weakness 



SOLITARY HABIT. 57 

and debility, but the memory fails, a cold sensation seizes the 
limbs, the voice becomes hoarse, and the eye-sight clouded ; 
disturbing dreams prevent sleep from administering relief. 
Mr. Harper observes, that, 

" The premature indulgence of amorous desires, in the early bloom 
of youth, is productive of the most ruinous consequences. At this 
period the mind grows warm, and well adapted to imbibe a proper 
fund and connection of ideas, through the favorable disposition of the 
nerves, and the body begins to germinate and gather firmness and 
vigor from the maturation of its juices, especially those of the glands, 
which now unfold and afford a repository for the lymphatic and 
nutritious parts of the fluids to answer the emergencies of nature. But 
the unseasonable pursuit of unripe enjoyment blasts these promising 
fruits, draws off health and genim from the system through*the cliannel 
of pleasure, and ineviiably shortens life ! " 

If in this progress of the system to its destined perfection, 
youth yields to the temptations of lasciviousness, and indulges 
in criminal enjoyments, plucking the unripe fruit of pleasure 
with a hasty hand of uncontrolled passion, he surely checks 
the growth of all his faculties, destroys the happiness which 
their legitimate use would bring him to encounter, and sacri- 
fices all the joys of the future to a present odious, heinous, 
worse than brutal and unnatural gratification, which inevita- 
bly shortens the period of his existence. 

When the constitution approaches its state of perfect 
development, when the boy and girl blossom into the full- 
grown man and woman, if the social impulse, or amative 
propensity produce disorder and defy control, the effects are 
too important to be for one moment neglected, as they have 
often the most vital influence upon the whole system ; and 
upon their action, future happiness, health, and even exist- 
ence, may, and do depend. 

To every animal but man, nature has set bounds to the ex- 

e rcise of the procreate functions, and prescribed the periods 

of their desires ; but to man, as a rational being, and the 

noblest work of creation, she has e:iven full liberty to enjoy 

3* 



58 SOLITARY HABIT. 

those blissful pleasures continually, guided only by reason 
and a proper regard to the powers of his system. While 
this liberty is used with discretion, and this license does not 
degenerate into abuse, the exercise of this function is prop- 
er, honorable, virtuous, healthful and necessary. It gives 
the highest pleasures of which the senses are capable, and 
mingles with the sweetest affections of the human heart. 
The passion, Love, that liberal herald of our manifestations, 
and the bright shining emblem of a noble soul and a tender 
heart, adorned by a brilliant intellect, is also the theme of the 
novelist, and inspires the poet and the artist. Without it 
the world is a blank, and society a chaos. In its righteous 
enjoyment, all is order, delight, sunshine, mirth and bliss ; 
deprived of it, all is cold, dark, and misanthropic. But when 
pleasure is perverted into debauchery, and the blissful ecstacy 
is carried to a blind excess, man loses the reins of reason and 
sinks below the level of the brute, and remorse, disease, and 
shame, are the results of the abuse of faculties, whose 
regular aetion should bring happiness and peace. Let this 
sentiment be refined and governed by affection and reason, 
lest it hurry thee into the horrors of lust, and produce the 
fruits of debauchery and excess. When this has once 
fastened upon thy mind and degraded thy body, farewell to 
love and all its soft and pure delights ; farewell to peace of 
mind and the pride of conscious rectitude — to all which 
makes existence a blessing, farewell ! 

When the constitution approaches its zenith or confirmed 
state, if the social impulse occasion disorder and rejects con- 
trol, its effects are too important to be neglected, as they 
often have the greatest influence upon the whole frame. 

An exquisite sensibility in the nervous system, united with 
sufficient powers in the circulation on the one hand, and a 
full and phlegmatic constitution on the other, are the two 
extremes of temperament, which particularly require indul- 
gence ; the former, in order to diminish that plenitude and 



SOLITARY HABIT. 59 

irritation, which, if not removed, might produce frenzy, 
fevers, inflammation, etc. ; and the latter, on purpose to 
create that excitement and action in the nerves and vessels 
which are necessary to prevent obstructions, consumptions, 
hypochondria, etc. 

Continued celibacy generally loads the glands, retards the 
circulation, and occasions fullness and stagnation in the 
vessels. In this state, the mind, unexpanded by the soft fire 
of mutual rapture, often becomes gloomy, selfish, and con- 
tracted, and all its faculties being confined within the narrow 
compass of ordinary gratifications, are devoted to habits of 
parsimonious care and contemplative amusement. 

Temperance is the best pledge for longevity; neverthe- 
less, young people should, by all means, inure themselves to 
the hardships and asperities of life. Without some share of 
these to temper the lethargic effects of indolence, the body 
sinks into a state of effeminacy and imbecility, and the mind 
soon becomes as feeble and insignificant as the body. 

Of all the various evils that human nature is ordained to 
suffer, none are more calamitous than those attending seminal 
pollutions, and which would be * difficult to paint in colors so 
glaring as they merit; a practice to which youth devote 
themselves without being acquainted with the enormity of 
the crime, and all the ills which are its physical consequences. 
The most clouded melancholy, indifference and aversion for 
all pleasures, the impossibility of sharing the conversation of 
company, wherein they are always absent in thought ; the 
idea of their own unhappiness, the despair which arises from 
considering themselves as the authors of their own misery, 
and the necessity of renouncing the felicities of marriage, 
are the fluctuating ideas which compel these miserable objects 
to shut themselves up from the world ; and happy are those 
who do not in the midst of despair put a period to their own 
existence ! 

A description of the danger to a person who is addicted 



60 SOLITARY HABIT. 

to this vice, is perhaps the most powerful mode of correction. 
It is a dreadful portrait, sufficient to make him retreat with 
horror ! — Consider, then, its principal features — The whole 
mass fallen to decay, all the bodily senses, all the faculties of 
the soul, weakened — loss of imagination and memory — im- 
becility — contempt — shame and ignominy are its constant 
attendants : All the functions disturbed, suspended and 
painful — capricious, disagreeable and disgusting, even to one's 
self — violent pains ever renewing — all the disorders of old age 
in the prime of youth — and above all, the incapacity for all 
the functions for which man was created — besides which, the 
humiliating consideration of being an useless member of soci- 
ety ; the mortifications to which they are exposed — lassitude 
— debility — distaste for pleasure, and incapable of enjoying 
the company of even a friend — an aversion for others as well 
as one's self— life appears horrible — the dread which every 
moment starts at suicide i anguish worse than pain ; remorse, 
daily increasing and daily gaining fresh strength. Alas ! 
alas ! when the soul (no longer weakened by its unity with 
the body) serves as a fire, that is never extinguised, for an 
eternal punishment ! 

Coition is useful whenever it is solicited by nature in a 
healthy state of the system ; but at all other times it weakens 
the faculties. The drafts upon the system to supply the con- 
stant excitements, are so frequent, so constant indeed, that 
the dissipation of its fluids or juices must occasion the 
greatest weakness ; and other functions, where these juices 
are wanting, must, of necessity, be imperfectly performed. 

If the love is pure, the bliss is the greatest man can wish 
for ; but beware, youth ! beware ; let this noble passion be 
guided by reason, lest it should hurry thee headlong into 
lust ; for if that be thy misfortune, farewell to love and every 
other social virtue, thou art ruined forever ! 

Sacred instinct first kindles the ethereal fire ; and when 
that pair meet whose inclinations come in unison, they pro- 



SOLITARY HABIT. 61 

claim to each other, with palpitating endearments, that there 
is a secret anxiety for becoming united into one. If this is 
not repugnant to the laws of chastity, and agreeable to the 
laws of nations, there now remains nothing but the embrace 
to complete the felicity, agreeable to the dictates of instinct. 
If this is concluded, and the period arrives, nature then pre- 
pares ; and the ideas center in this act only ; the blood 
increases in velocity ; and, like the attractive power of mag- 
netism, they cement as they approach in contact. 

Excessive venery produces lassitude, weakness, numbness, 
a feeble gait, headache, convulsions of all the senses, dimness 
of sight, and dullness of hearing, an idiot look, a consump- 
tion of the lungs and back, and effeminacy. These evils are 
increased by a perpetual itch for pleasure, to which the body 
and mind have been so much accustomed, that it is difficult 
to wean themselves from it ; whence follow obscene dreams 
and frequent erections, which are occasioned by the influx of 
semen which, however small, becomes a burden and a stim- 
ulus, which will be discharged from the relaxed cells by the 
very slightest effort. Thus it is, that this horrid practice 
destroys the flower of our youth, and nips them in their bud. 
Dr. East, a celebrated physician at Lyons, relates, that a 
young man, a student, died of the excess of this debauchery. 

The idea of the crime had made such an impression on 
his mind, that he died in a kind of despair, fancying he saw 
hell opening on every side, ready to receive him. He also 
assures us, that he saw a child of six or seven years old, (in- 
structed by a servant maid), polluting himself so often, that 
he died of a slow fever. His rage for this act was s© great, that 
he could not be restrained from it the very last day of his 
life ; and when he was informed that he thereby hastened his 
death, he consoled himself in saying, he should go to his 
father, who died a few months before. Frequent repetition 
of the act of self-abuse, has been followed in some instances 
with an eniission of blood instead of semen. It is universally 



62 SOLITARY HABIT. 

acknowledged, that we are equally ignorant of the nature of 
spirit and the nature of matter, but we know that these two 
parts of man are so intimately united, that all the change 
which the one undergoes is felt by the other. This observa- 
tion equally points out to us, that of all disorders, there are 
none which more quickly affect the soul than those of the 

NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

" Absence, distrust, or e'en with, anxious joy, 
The wholesome appetites and powers of life 
Dissolve in langor ; the coy stomach loathes 
The genial board ; your cheerful days are gone ; 
The gen'rous bloom that flushed your cheeks is fled ; 
To sighs devoted and to tender pains 
Pensive you sit, or solitary stray. 
You waste your youth in musiDg."' 

Those who addict themselves to this practice are generally 
disordered in the stomach, and afflicted with loss of appetite 
— dry coughs — weakness of the voice — hoarseness — shortness 
of breath upon the least exercise — and a relaxation of the 
whole nervous system. Some are afflicted with a consider- 
able loss of strength — paleness — sometimes a slight jaun- 
dice — pimples often appear on the face, and particularly 
about the forehead, temples and nose — leanness — they are 
greatly affected by change of season, particularly cold 
weather — langor of the eyes — weakness of sight and loss of 
memory. 

Youth is the importanfperiod for framing a robust constitu- 
tion. Xothing is so much to be dreaded as the premature or 
excessive indulgence of amorous pleasure ; hence arise weak- 
ness of sight, vertigoes, loss of appetite, and mortal decay. 
A body that is enervated in youth seldom recovers itself, old 
age and infirmities speedily come on, and the thread of life is 
shortened, unless proper treatment is resorted to, and faith- 
fully persevered in. No care should be neglected that may 
contribute to the elegance and strength of the body ; the 
excesses which I here treat of are equally destructive of both ; 
" for the foundation of a happy old age, is a good constitution 



SOLITARY HABIT. 63 

in youth : temperance and moderation at that age, are pass- 
ports to happy gray hairs." 

Xature, in a state of health, does not inspire ideas ; but 
when the vesiculae seminales are replete with a quantity of 
liquor, which has acquired such a degree of thickness as to 
render its return into the mass of blood difficult, then coition 
is both necessary and proper ; but when we subject ourselves 
to lascivious desires, when we have no occasion for them, it 
is the imagination, lustful habit, and not nature that impor- 
tunes them. 

The body wastes away, th' infected mind 
Dissolves in effeminacy, forgets 
Each manly virtue and grows dead to fame. 
Sweet heaven ! from such intoxicating charms 
Defend all worthy breasts ! 

Another cause why those who practice self-pollution are 
debilitated, is, independent of the emissions of the seed, the 
frequency of erection, which, though imperfect, greatly weak- 
ens them. Every part that is in a state of tension exhausts 
the powers, and they have none to lose : the spirits are con- 
veyed there in large quantities, they are dissipated, and this 
occasions weakness : they are wanting in the performance of 
other functions, which is thereby only imperfectly done. 

When a person has habituated himself to confine his 
thoughts to one idea, he becomes incapable of any other ; its 
empire is fixed, its reign is despotic ! upon the most serious 
occasions he finds his thoughts occupied with lustful desires 
and conceptions, and wishes to withdraw from observation, 
that he may indulge in his darling sin. To such a degree has 
dissipation in some places arisen that debauchery with women 
is looked upon only as a habit ; the most criminal, in this 
respect, make no mystery of it, and imagine it draws upon 
them no sort of contempt. But where is the masturbator who 
dares openly acknowledge his infamy ? and should not thi3 
necessity of hiding the deeds in mystic obscurity be a convic- 
tion of the criminality of these acts ? 



64 SOLITARY HABIT. 

It is evident in what manner the constitution is injured 
more by this habit than by a natural connection ; for after 
excessive coition with a woman that is beloved, a man is not 
sensible of the lassitude which should follow this excess, 
because the joy which the soul feels, increases the strength of 
the heart, favors the functions, and restores what was lost : 
but this is not the case when every effort is strained to obtain 
a secretion of that fluid, whereby the human frame suffers 
such convulsions that it is difficult of being replaced. "Why 
should we commit so great a crime against nature ? Why 
sink the soul in a sea of woe, and depress the spirits of the 
man, when " beauty hath charms to dilate our hearts, and 
multiply our joys ? " 

I will here give in concluding this already lengthened 
essay, a few prominent cases only, to illustrate some of the 
effects of this vice on lovely woman. 

A distinguished teacher in the State of Massachusetts, re- 
lated that, recently, a lovely and intelligent young lady, of a 
wealthy family, attended his school. She, at length, began to 
lose her health, and became exceedingly nervous, and partially 
insane ; it was then ascertained that she was given to this 
secret and fatal habit, and that this was the cause of her 
illness. 

About two years ago, a young woman, aged twenty-two 
years, came under my care, in a state of the worst form of 
insanity. She was furious, noisy, filthy, and, apparently, 
nearly reduced to idiocy. She had been in this condition 
many months, and continued so for some time while with me. 
She was pale and bloodless, had but little appetite, frequently 
rejected her food, and was reduced in flesh and strength. 
Finding her one day more calm than usual, I hinted to her 
the subject of masturbation, . and informed her that, if she 
practised it, she could not get well — if she abandoned it, she 
might. She did not deny the charge, and promised to follow 
my advice strictly. In two or three weeks from this time, 



SOLITARY HABIT. 65 

she was perceptibly better ; her mind improved as her health 
gained ; and both were much better in the course of a few 
weeks. The recovery was very rapid in this case. At the 
end of three months she had excellent health, was quite fleshy, 
and became perfectly sane ; and has continued so, as far as 
we have known, to this time. 

In the spring of 1837, 1 was consulted by the father of a 
young woman who had, for four years, been in the worst 
possible condition of health. She had consulted many 
eminent physicians, who had prescribed remedies and regimen 
for her without benefit. On first seeing the patient, I was 
impressed that the cause of her illness had not been under- 
stood, which had rendered all remedies unavailing. Upon 
inquiring of the patient, I found that she had been the victim 
of self-pollution. I cautioned her to abandon the practice, 
prescribed some remedies, and saw her no more. 

More than a year from the time of seeing her, I heard 
directly from her parents, who sent me word that she had 
entirely recovered her health and energy of mind, and that 
my prescriptions had entirely cured her. 

Not long since, a case of periodical insanity came under 
my observation, the subject of which was a young lady. The 
disease had existed ten years without any material change. 
Suspecting that masturbation was the cause, I directed her 
mother to ascertain, if possible, and inform me. Some 
months after, I received intelligence that my patient was 
better, and that my suspicions of the habit were confirmed 
by the observation of her friends. The case is not without 
hope, although of so long standing, if the cause is removed. 

Three or four similar cases have been under my care 
recently, in which individuals of the same sex have been 
reduced to the same degraded state. They were a melan- 
choly spectacle of human misery, without mind, without de- 
licacy or modesty, constantly harassed by the most ungovern- 
able passion, and under the influence of propensities excited 



66 SOLITARY HABIT. 

to a morbid activity by a vice far more prevalent than has 
been supposed. A large proportion of the "bed-ridden'' 
cases, of which there are so many in the community, will be 
found to have originated in this cause. 

TREATMENT. 

General Remedies — Moral, Physical, and Medico-Mechan- 
ical. — There are two methods to be pursued in the treatment 
and cure of the vice of onanism, namely, the moral and medic- 
inal treatment, and the use of medico-mechanical means. These 
modes for effecting a cure must go hand in hand,* each 
assisting the other, and both persevered in until not only a 
constitutional and permanent cure is established, but the moral 
faculties have regained their ascendency over the sense, or 
the perverted animal instinct. 

The moral treatment has already been sufficiently explained 
and illustrated in the foregoing pages ; but the following re- 
marks from a late writer on this subject, are so apposite and 
excellent withal, that I shall here give them. He says : — 
" Avoid bad and lascivious companions. Never converse upon 
loose subjects, except with such well disposed persons as may 
give you salutary lessons upon the evil effects of licentious 
habits, and give to the victim motives and strength to over- 
come them. Shun the company of the vicious and aban- 
doned, and everything that tends to excite the sensibilities, 
which are to be regulated and reduced. Avoid sedentary 
habits and solitary places, if they engender impure imagina- 
tions ; and above all, never read obscene ' medical ' books, or 
look upon exciting pictures. Seek the company of the wise 
and moral, and, likewise, have some active employment for 



* When a speedy cure is desired ; but when time is not of much importance, 
or circumstances prevent the patient from availing himself of the .assistance 
conferred through the medium of the Medicated Bougie, the medicinal or 
constitutional method will suffice for an equally radical though much less 
rapid cure. 



SOLITARY HABIT. 6*7 

both body and mind. Never sleep alone, but with some 
moral and estimable person, whose good opinion you so much 
value that you would fear in his presence to commit a sin, 
however strongly tempted. Let the beauty and dignity of 
true virtue, and the danger and odiousness of vice — the true 
end of your being and hopes of happiness, be constantly in 
your mind, and preserve you from evil thoughts and actions." 
Such moral means, with the proper constitutional and me- 
dico-mechanical discipline presently to be spoken of, cannot 
fail of effecting a thorough, radical, and permanent cure. 

The physical and medico-mechanical treatment consists in the 
use of the Medicated Bougie, the Yeratrum Yiride, &c, and 
in the avoidance of all stimulating, acrid, and high-seasoned food 
or drinks ; on the other hand, a poor, thin, and watery diet, 
as recommended by the disciples of Graham, for instance, is 
very improper, and will have a tendency rather to increase 
than ameliorate the disordered state of the body under which 
the patient is suffering, by keeping below the natural stand- 
ard of health the tone of the system. The supply of food 
should be furnished in proper quantity, and sufficiently 
nutritive. It is true, that as the strength increases, the 
secretion of the seminal fluid will also increase in quantity 
and vigor, which not being all absorbed into the circulation, 
the remainder is a source of irritation to the generative or- 
gans. To counteract this, exercise is to be used, not only for 
pleasure, but so as to induce considerable fatigue. Use, 
therefore, a generous, plain diet, eating little and often, and 
indulge in but little sleep, and that upon a hard mattress or 
straw bed, so as merely to repair the fatigues of a day's exer- 
cise or labor. Too much sleep is as prejudicial as idleness 
or stimulating food. Excess of wine, spirits, or fermented 
liquors, should be avoided, though the use of good wine in 
moderation, is often beneficial, and may be prescribed as a 
tonic ; but pure cold water or beef-tea should be the com- 
mon drinks. Take daily exercise in the open air at sunset, 



68 SOLITARY HABIT. 

a supper of the lightest kind, go to bed early and rise be- 
times, sleep on a cool bed — avoiding that of feathers, bathe 
frequently, and wash the genitals with cold water every even- 
ing and morning, and if convenient twice or three times 
during the day. Too much covering is hurtful, and if the 
genitals become irritated, rise at once, and bathe them in 
cold water. 

In all cases of much debility, the following preparation 
may be taken : — 

Compound Tincture of Gentian. 
Take of Gentian Root, sliced, 2 ounces ; Orange Peel, dried, 1 ounce ; Car- 
damon Seeds, bruised, % an ounce; Proof Spirit, 2 pints. 

Let it stand in a warm place forty-eight hours, to digest. 
Dose : a tablespoonful morning, noon, and evening, in half 
a wine-glass full of cold water. When there is a tendency to 
much irritability, or heat of the parts, in conjunction with 
cold bathing, above mentioned, use the following : — 

Compound Tincture of Camphor. 
Take of Camphor two scruples ; Opium, dried and powdered, Benzoic Acid, 
of each, one dram ; Proof Spirits, two pints. 

Keep this near a stove, as above, for the purpose of steep- 
ing. Dose : half a teaspoonful in a little water, as often 
as the parts become excited, particularly on going to bed, 
or as often as occasion requires. 

With these rules to guide the patient, provided the remedies 
are judiciously prescribed, all may hope for benefit ; and in 
most cases, a few weeks will suffice for a perfect cure to be pro- 
duced — even in those who have for years indulged in venereal 
excesses, or in the vice of masturbation or self-pollution ; while 
those who, for moral or other reasons, desire a life of celibacy, 
will find these means more effectual than any vows of chasti- 
ty, however sacred or sincere. 

" Who pines with love, or in lascivious flames 
Consumes, is with his own consent undone." 



SOLITARY HABIT. 69 

CONCLUDING EEMAEKS. 

NEW YORK ANATOMICAL MUSEUM. 

In concluding this important chapter, the cause of hu- 
manity cannot be better subserved by me, than to offer here 
a few remarks which suggested themselves on beholding the 
life-like pathological specimens contained in the New York 
Anatomical Museum, (an establishment of respectability in 
Broadway, not far from Canal street, New York City). The 
specimens therein contained, to which I now more particu- 
larly refer, consist of two full-size figures of the human body, 
one a male and the other a female — both victims to the horrid 
practice of masturbation. Let all addicted to the vice pay 
this moral school of Science a visit, and contemplate those 
two startling figures, representing with truthful reality the 
sad, the fearful end of the victims of masturbation ! What 
an impressive lesson is here exhibited to the young in these 
silent, yet eloquent monitors! Beyond all doubt, such 
lessons are the best preservatives and protectors of the morals 
that can possibly be presented to the youthful mind — aye, to 
the minds of all. 

I have also noticed with wonder and admiration, in a phi- 
lanthropic and scientific point of view, among this splendid 
anatomical collection, the vast series of life-like models, repre- 
senting and illustrating venereal diseases, in all their forms 
and phases — from a simple gonorrhoea or clap, to the worst 
possible forms and stages of syphilis or chancre. 

Great credit is certainly due to the enlightened, humane 
and enterprising proprietors of this Museum, for having suc- 
ceeded — amid so much opposition and calumny on the part 
of the interested, the malevolent, and the bigoted members of 
' the medical profession (though the more liberal and intelligent 
of the profession, of course, sanction and hail it with delight, 
for the People's sake) — in establishing it in this great city. I 
am happy to see it prosper as it does ; for its extensive and varied 



70 SOLITARY HABIT. 

collection of models^ teaches one of the greatest moral lessons 
possible, to the youth of both sexes, and all classes of society, 
it being constantly and very properly visited by such through- 
out the day and evening, with great apparent gratification. 
The lessons which it teaches are far more effective than any- 
thing that ever has or can be taught from either the pulpit 
or the bench. No language with which I am acquainted, 
is half so eloquent as that conveyed to the head and heart by a 
contemplation of these silent but impressive lessons. 

Such an establishment is of paramount importance to the 
well-being of society, and a most wholesome and powerful 
check on licentiousness and its appalling results. I look upon 
the New York Anatomical Museum, then, as being admirably 
calculated, from the nature of its extensive collection of 
models, to enlighten the people to a degree beyond calcula- 
tion, respecting the important subjects of health and disease. 
Quackery will soon begin to quail before the growing know- 
ledge of the public on these literally vital points ; for which I 
repeat all praise must be awarded to the proprietors of this 
Museum, for their indefatigable efforts to cater sound intel- 
lectual and profitable knowledge for the citizens of this high- 
ly favored country. I see nothing in the Museum in question 
to shock the honest modesty of either man, woman, or child ; 
but as to the pure all things are pure, so to the unclean and 
impure all things are full of impurity ; however, as we be- 
come enlightened, we learn to discriminate between the true 
and the false, in all things.* 



* This Museum, I should remark, contains an immense number of models on 
all subjects relating to anatomy, as well as to pathology, physiology, &c. There 
is a full series of models, shewing the different stages of pregnancy, from the 
first to the ninth month, which is alone worth traveling a thousand miles to be- 
hold. But, were I to endeavor to enumerate and describe this grand collection of 
anatomical models, a volume instead of a page or two would be the result. It 
must be seen to be appreciated. 



ADDRESS 

TO 

PARENTS, GUARDIANS, SCHOOLMASTERS, 

AND THOSE WHO ARE INTRUSTED WITH THE 

EDUCATION OF YOUTH. 



The growing pest, whose infancy was weak, 
And easy vanquish'd, with triumphant sway 
O'erpowers your life. For want of timely aid 
Millions have died of medicable wounds. 

The following case is worthy the attention of parents and 
guardians who have the care of youth : — A young man of 
twenty-eight years of age, was initiated into these abomina- 
tions (self-abuse) by his private tutor, and had the same dis- 
gust for the married state. The anguish of his situation, 
joined to his exhausted condition, the consequences of his 
operations, threw him into a profound melancholy, which, 
however, yielded to the power of the Medicated Bougie, the 
Veratrum Viride, and the nervous and strengthening medi- 
cines mentioned in the preceding essay. 

Permit me to entreat you who are fathers and mothers, to 
reflect upon the source from whence the above patient de- 
rived his misfortunes, as there are more examples of this kind 
than one. If they may be deceived in the choice of those to 
whom they intrust the important charge of forming the mind 
and heart of their pupils, what is there not to fear from those, 
who being only appointed to display their corporeal talents, 
are examined less critically with respect to their morals ; and 



7 2 ADDRESS. 

from servants who are frequently hired without its being 
known whether they have any morals at all ! 

Many young and tender plants have been blasted by the 
very gardener who was intrusted with their rearing ; there 
are in this kind of rearing gardeners of both sexes : but 
should it be asked where is the remedy of this evil? the 
answer is concise and simply this — Be particularly careful 
in the choice of a preceptor ; watch over the preceptor and 
his pupil with that vigilance which an attentive and careful 
father of a family exerts to know what is done in the darkest 
recesses of his house. 

Never leave servants or tutors alone with youth, if you 
have the least reason to believe that they are given to these 
practices. Watch youth if they stay too long in the privy or 
necessary, particulary with a companion, for in great schools 
it is frequently to such places that they retire to commit this 
destructive vice ; and I have been assured by many, that they 
were first taught this detestable practice in such places. 

It is time to conclude these shocking details ; I am weary 
of the turpitude and misery of mankind. Good God ! would 
young people only take time to consider that every act of de- 
bauchery of this kind strikes deep at the root of the consti- 
tution, inevitably hastens those disorders they fear, and will 
in the very flower of their youth bring on all the infirmities 
of the most languishing old age, they certainly would abhor 
and desist from so vile and abominable a practice. 

Before I dismiss this subject, it is absolutely necessary to 
remark, that it ought not to be expected that disorders of 
this kind can be removed in a few days, which perhaps have 
been many y^ears accumulating. Those who wish to be re- 
stored to their former health, strength and vigor, ought 
strictly to adhere to the advice and remedies prescribed for 
them by their physician ; they should consider that from im- 
plicit confidence and steady perseverance, a cure can only be 
obtained. A patient who is inattentive to his own welfare 



ADDRESS. 13 

cannot expect a cure. Hippocrates justly observes that, 
" the patient, the physician, and the assistants ought equally 
to do their duty." Aretus says, " Let the patient have cour- 
age, and conspire with the physician against the disorder. 
The most stubborn distempers generally give way to this har- 
mony." Experience daily demonstrates the justness of this 
assertion ; and the author can safely challenge the whole 
world to prove one single instance wherein the remedies here- 
in prescribed have failed in producing the most happy and 
salutary effects, even in the worst of cases, wherein they have 
been taken regularly and persevered in for a moderate length 
of time. 

Persons who have addicted themselves to this vice, gen- 
erally find themselves disgusted at all amusements, absent in 
company, stupid and lifeless everywhere ; and if they think 
at all, feel themselves plunged into the deepest melancholy. 
From all these miseries the treatment laid down under Sper- 
matorrhoea, in Part II., (which see), is certain to afford re- 
lief. But it should be observed that perseverance is necessa- 
ry.; in ail cases a particular attention to the directions, as 
also a regularity in time and dose, are to be regarded ; and 
above all, it must be noticed, that it will be in vain to expect 
any relief from these remedies, without punctuality ; for 
taking a dose or two regular, then leaving off for some days 
and beginning again, will be of no service ; they must be con- 
tinued regularly. 

Yes, it is time to conclude our remarks upon this most im- 
portant but unpleasant subject. What a picture of human 
weakness, turpitude and misery has been unfolded in the fore- 
going pages ! Would youth but consider that every act of 
debauchery, and every excessive secretion, strikes at the root 
of their future health and happiness, and surely tends to pro- 
duce all the terrible evils, infirmities, and miseries they most 
dread, how would they abhor and detest their vile, unmanly, 
and death-dealing vices ! 
•4 



14 ADDRESS. 

It is vain and exceedingly foolish to suppose that diseases 
which have been years in accumulating, and habits which 
have been forming, perhaps through a whole life, thus far, 
can be cured suddenly, or without effort and perseverance. 

I would, however, inform all, that there is no case so des- 
perate that may not be remedied by perseverance and the dis- 
coveries of modern science, judiciously applied, in from four 
weeks to two months, according as the case is a recent one, 
or of long standing.* 

\* It will be a substantial service to society, if the 
reader, having attentively perused these pages himself, will 
forward under envelope, anonymously or otherwise, this work 
to such of his friends or acquaintance, who, as he may have 
reason either to know or suspect, have been the secret victims 
of the baneful habit I have alluded to. In this way a parent 
may secretly, yet effectually, warn that child, to whom on 
such a subject he would feel it repulsive to speak. I need 
only point out this mode of performing a humane and chari- 
table action, to render obvious its very useful application. 



* As mentioned elsewhere in this work, a patient afflicted with seminal 
debility can he radically and satisfactorily cured either by constitutional or 
internal treatment alone, or locally, through the medium of the Medicated 
Bougie, which is not only radical, but singularly prompt in its remedial action. 
[See "Preliminary Chapter," and "Summary of the New American Treat- 
ment," Fart II. of this book.] 



ESSAY THE FOUBTH. 



DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS. 

Not a day passes by that I am not consulted by some un- 
fortunate patient who has either been rendered impotent, by 
the pressure of metallic instruments, or plates against the 
perinceum, the wearing of " spermatorrhoea rings " upon the 
penis, or by the use of some other equally vile deception for 
the " cure " of Nocturnal or Diurnal Seminal Emissions ; or 
else he has been infected with Syphilis, or some other form of 
the venereal disease, through the agency of another absurd 
and villainous deception, namely, a thing called baudruche, 
" safe," " French letter," etc., and which is, by the way, sim- 
ply an invention of some depraved mind for the initiation of 
unsuspecting ignorance into a new, but none the less destruc- 
tive, disgusting, and domoralizing mode of Onanism, mastur- 
bation, or self-abuse : " a shield against pleasure, a cobweb 
against disease." 

The conscientious physician can only raise his feeble warn- 
ing voice against the despicable tricks and subtleties of char- 
latanism, and point out the miserable, fatal results to which 
they are constantly giving rise : it remains with the reader to 
decide, after the matter shall have been fairly laid open to 
him, whether he will profit by the lesson sought to be incul- 
cated, or whether, on the other hand, with a full knowledge 
of the facts before him, he will reject that lesson. 

To be brief, I will then just intimate that pressure against the 
perinceum, or urethra, whether by means of a metallic plate, or 
by any other means, is entirely nugatory or useless as a prevmt- 



18 DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS. 

ive or cure of seminal emissions, nocturnal or otherwise. The 
only possible effect that can be produced by such tricks, is 
that of local irritation, whereby the emissions are not only 
not benefited, but greatly aggravated. The same is also true 
of " spermatorrhoea rings/ 7 the inevitable and sole result of 
the use of which is either to annoy, torment and irritate the 
wearer, by awakening him continually during the night, 
breaking his rest and robbing him of his sleep, and thus in- 
creasing the tendency to these emissions ; or when this is not 
the case, to cause the semen, by unnaturally diverting its 
course, to flow into the bladder, to be afterwards expelled 
from that organ mixed with the urine. When the seminal 
fluid has thus been forced, by this stupid " invention," to pass 
into the bladder a few times, the habit has been confirmed, 
and the victim rendered almost hopelessly impotent. This 
is, indeed, one of the most frequent causes of Sterility — the 
poor woman not being at all at fault, but the man. 

Thus does the quack, with his illusory appliances, success- 
fully cajole the (alas !) too confiding patient, who, finding his 
emissions stopped, as he fondly but vainly imagines, is de- 
luded by the very natural mistake that because they are no 
longer external or visible, he is cured, when in reality he is 
simply ruined — impotent / How many cases of sterility have 
I not been able to trace directly to the man, whose impotent 
condition was solely due to the employment of " spermatorr- 
hoea rings," &c, &c. Patients invariably complain that ^the 
urine becomes cloudy soon after they have commenced wear- 
ing the ring — which cloudiness is owing to the admixture of 
semen with the urinary secretion. 

To explain the modus operandi, the " why and wherefore" 
of the above, would here be impracticable for want of the 
necessary anatomical knowledge on the part of the reader ; 
neither would it serve any good or useful purpose to do so, 
except, perhaps, to demonstrate the fact that the emissions are 
caused, by these instruments, to take place internally into the 



DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS. 11 

bladder, instead of externally, via the urethra ; and this is 
what is called by the quack curing the disease ! Such, how- 
ever, are the facts, pure and simple, as they actually exist : 
may the reader be benefited by the knowledge of them.* 
With regard to " safes" — a singular misnomer truly ! — I 

* Note. — Rapid Glance at the Author's Theory and Treatment of Seminal Dis- 
eases in General. 

Still, for the satisfaction of those -who are so deeply interested in this im- 
portant matter, I will mention that Spermatorrhoea depends upon a weakness 
and relaxation of the back brain (cerebellum) , spinal nerves, and seminal ducts , 
which ducts proceed from the testicles to the vesical portion of the urinary 
passage, near the neck of the bladder. The seminiferous tubes are of great 
length, being in fact several feet long, and are relaxed throughout their entire 
length, thus permitting the semen passively to flow from the testicle out 
through their orifices or mouths into the urethra, and so on out of the body. 
Hence the absurdity, by the way, of burning (" cauterization ") the orifices 
only of the ducts, at their point of entrance into the urinary passage. Now, 
the reader may understand that so long as the seminal ducts are thus relaxed, 
the semen must flow through them, as water flows through a pipe ; and, also, 
that if prevented by any mechanical obstacle, whether it be a metallic ring, 
or what not, from passing out through the urethra, it must go somewhere 
else. And this is precisely what I wanted to explain, for the semen being pre- 
vented from passing through the urinary canal, the orifices of the ducts, 
being spasmodically acted upon by this accumulated semen, become suddenly 
deflected, and slipping away from the obstacle (pressure of the " curative " in- 
strument) they bend upon themselves — either upwards, downwards, or to one 
side or the other — and empty their overburdened contents into the Bladder. 
Thus we clearly see how it is that the Author's Medicated BouGrE cures this 
disease, in less than one-half the time required by internal medicines alone, by con- 
veying direct medication to the orifices of the seminal ducts, whence the medi- 
cament, by reason of its refined elaboration, and peculiar adaptability , through 
chemical agency, is conveyed, by the capillary absorption and peristaltic action 
of the ducts, throughout their entire course; thus effectually astringing, brac- 
ing, and contracting those ducts, upon whose relaxation the local symptoms 
(the involuntary emissions) greatly, but not wholly, depend ; * and, by the 
judicious administration of the appropriate constitutional means — the Vera- 
trum Viride, Spts. Formic, Iodine, and their auxiliaries — the cerebellum and 
spinal nerves are reinstated in their normal, or healthy and vigorous action : 
and thus the RADICAL CURE of Spermatorrhoea is scientifically effected. 

In the above concise explanation, the reader has, at a glance, a perfect 
bird's-eye view both of my Theory and Treatment of Seminal Diseases in 
general. 

* See Chapter on Treatment of Impotence. 



78 DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS. 

shall, in conclusion, add but a few words to what I have 
already said concerning them. How any one calling himself 
a man, can so far consent to debase his nature as to offer the 
vile things for sale, and for such a purpose too, is to me pass- 
ing strange. But what amount of self-respect can that in- 
dividual possess, who can resort, in the presence of a female, 
however degraded, to so debasing and unnatural a form of 
Onanism, by using the " safe ? " Either let a man cohabit 
with the other sex in a natural, manly way, or not at all, 
should be (and is) the sentiment of all right-minded, sensible 
and decent men. And, youthful reader, let it be your's also. 

What, in the name of reason, can be the motive for em- 
ploying the baudruche ? Is it for the purpose of preventing 
venereal infection ? There was never a more erroneous idea, 
or a more egregious delusion than this ; for the syphilitic 
virus is liable to inoculate any moist absorbing* part upon 
which it may chance to lodge, thus proving, conclusively, that 
the so-called " safe " is one of the most unsafe protectors 
imaginable — by lulling the Onanist into the belief that he is 
quite safe, when in good truth he never was less so ! For 
(and this should be remembered) the thing, whether made of 
membrane or white rubber, is not only prone to tear, from 
its extreme thinness, at the very point where it should not, 
namely, at the small closed end — and which is of very fre- 
quent occurrence — but to slip off as well, either partially or 
entirely, during the act of coition, and remain, occasionally, 
in the vagina. 

Let those who delude themselves with the prevalent but 
fatal notion that the " safe " is a sure preventive of pregnancy, 
ponder well these facts, through ignorance of which thousands 
have been irretrievably ruined. 

Nor is this all : " The baudruche (" safe " ) is a shield 

* The natural absorbing power of the Absorbent Vessels ivTien excited is so 
active, that the venereal virus can soon be conveyed by them throughout the 
entire system, destroying, sooner or later, the victim's health, and, it may be, 
his life also. 



DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS. 79 

AGAINST THE PLEASURE OF BOTH SEXES, BUT ONLY A COBWEB 
AGAINST DISEASE."* 

Reader, there are other objections, scarcely less serious, 
not only in a physical but in a moral sense, against the em- 
ployment of the " safe " by persons of intelligence ; but I have 
neither time, space, nor inclination to enter further into de- 
tails. Although no " fancy-sketch " has been indulged in by 
me, in the foregoing remarks, yet enough has been said upon 
the subject to effectually warn all, who are susceptible of being 
warned, to shun a vice so destructive to Health and Happi- 
ness as " Safe" -Onanism ; and, should the warning have the 
effect of saving but a single fellow-being from self-degradation, 
misery, and, it may be, death, these lines will not have been 
penned in vain. 

* Ricord's " Lettres sur la Syphilis." Paris, 1855. 



ESSAY THE FIFTH. 



On a new and absolutely painless mode of treating Strictures of 
the Urethra, without the use of Instruments. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STRICTURE. 



The term Stricture, in surgical language, signifies a morbid 
obstruction in some of the ducts or canals of the human body, 
either of a transient nature, the result of irregular muscular 
contraction, or of a more persistent character, from some 
alteration of structure in the part affected. The urethra, or 
urinary passage, is peculiarly liable to both kinds of obstruc- 
tion ; the former is called spasmodic, the latter permanent 
stricture. Urethral obstructions, however, occasionally arise 
from external or outward causes — as abscesses or other 
tumors — which, by their pressure, may either partially impede 
or completely obstruct the passage of the urine. 

In permanent strictures, various degrees of thickening of 
the lining membrane of the urethra and its underlying tex- 
tures are observed at the seat of obstruction, by which the 
natural elasticity of the canal has been more or less impaired. 
Sometimes the stricture consists of a narrow white band, 
extending entirely or partly around the urethra ; not always, 
however, in a circular manner, but sometimes in an oblique 
direction. The band may present a somewhat semicircular 
form, extending across the lower portion of the canal. This 
has been called the bridle stricture. When narrow and cir- 
cular, it was compared, by John Hunter, to a thread tied 
round the urethra. The obstruction may resemble a piece of 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STRICTURE. 81 

whipcord, called by Sir A. Cooper the corded stricture. In 
some instances, a flat circular band extends an inch or more 
along the urethra, which is the ribbon stricture of the same 
author. In some cases of rare occurrence, the greater portion 
of the urinary passage has been contracted. The alteration 
of structure may be confined to the mucous membrane of the 
canal, but, generally, the subjacent cellular texture is more or 
less thickened ; and, should the disease have been of long 
duration, the elastic tissue will mostly be found to have lost 
its healthy pliability. 

A frequent and formidable consequence of gonorrhoea is 
stricture. Certain constitutions appear to be more disposed 
to this disease than others ; and, in fact, those are most sub- 
ject to it who show strong marks of a scrofulous habit in 
other respects. This symptom exists in various degrees, and 
narrows the urinary canal, often in several points at the same 
time. This complaint generally comes on gradually. The 
stream of urine becomes here more or less diminished, twisted 
in size and shape, or scattered, as it were, and forked. Stric- 
ture is the result of a thickening of the mucous membrane. 
Strictures, also, are divided into the spasmodic, the inflamma- 
tory, and the permanent varieties. 

Spasmodic Stricture, not associated with inflammation, is 
a rare disease. It comes on suddenly, and is not attended 
with pain until the patient attempts to make water. Various 
causes are said to give rise to this kind of stricture ; it may 
proceed from exposure to cold and damp, excesses in drinking 
wine, spirits, etc., retaining the urine too long in the bladder, 
irritation of distant parts ; or " even an irritated state of mind, 
or a mind deeply engaged in study, will occasionally influence 
the nervous system to such a degree as to produce spasmodic 
stricture of the urethra." 

Old Treatment — "You should introduce a bougie," says Sir A. 
Cooper, " letting it steal gently along the urinary passage, and when 
it arrives at the strictured part, there let it rest for a short time ; af- 

rzi 4* 



82 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STRICTURE. 

ter this, you should gradually push it forward, using only a very 
slight force, but continuing that force until you have succeeded in 
passing the stricture. Let the bougie rest for a minute or two in the 
strictured part, and then withdraw it. The patient will be immediate- 
ly enabled freely to pass his mine. If you have not a bougie at hand, 
you may employ a catheter, and it will answer equally well ; you 
must take care, however, to use it gently, as I have just described." 

" The chief point to be attended to in such cases is not to irritate 
the parts by attempting to pass the stricture with a bougie, or to 
reach the bladder with a catheter. If much resistance be offered to 
the introduction of instruments, it will be better to have recourse to 
other means rather than persist in overcoming the obstacle by using 
force. The bowels should be well cleared out by means of copious in- 
jections of warm water, and afterwards an injection consisting of fifty 
or sixty drops of laudanum with a wineglassful of warm water should 
be administered, or from forty to fifty drops of this medicine may be 
given by the mouth ; and the dose may be repeated after a few hours, 
if the patient be not relieved." 

The Author's treatment, however, entirely does away with 
the bougie, and is based upon the internal employment of the 
Veratrum Viride, as well as the external use of this admir- 
able remedy, in the form of an unguent ; this remedy, then, 
conjoined with suitable auxiliaries, I find amply sufficient in 
removing this variety of stricture. 

INFLAMMATORY STRICTURE. 

Persons who indulge too freely at table, while laboring 
under chronic gonorrhoea or gleet, are most liable to this 
kind of obstruction ; it may also occur during the acute 
gonorrhoea, in consequence of inflammatory swelling of the 
mucous or lining membrane of the urethra, and may follow 
the introduction of a bougie. It is generally associated with 
the spasmodic form of the disease above described, is quick 
in its approach, and accompanied with severe pain. 

Treatment. — The treatment in this case consists in opening 
the bowels with an infusion of senna and salts, or by means 
of purgative clysters, the use of the Yeratrum Yiride, and the 
warm bath, [See Med. Inf. p. 324.] 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STRICTURE. 83 

PERMANENT STRICTURE. 

This is by far the most common form of stricture ; and, in 
the great majority of cases, proceeds from gleet or frequent 
attacks of gonorrhoea, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. 
Astringent injections, employed in the cure of gonorrhea and 
gleet, were formerly supposed to be frequent causes of stric- 
ture ; but experience has shown that they have been often con- 
demned without sufficient reason, save when ignorantly em- 
ployed. 

At the commencement of every permanent stricture, you 
are made acquainted with the real nature of the complaint 
by the following symptoms. " The first is, the retention of a 
few drops of urine in the urethra after the whole appears to 
have been discharged, so that when the penis has been re- 
turned into the small clothes, the linen becomes slightly 
wetted ; and if you press on the underside of the urethra, a 
few drops more will be voided, which had collected between 
the bladder and that part of the urethra where the stricture 
is situated. The next circumstance we notice is an irritable 
state of the bladder. This is evinced by the person not be- 
ing enabled to sleep as long as usual without discharging his 
urine. A man in health will sleep for seven, eight, or nine 
hours without being obliged to empty his bladder ; but when 
he has a stricture, he cannot continue for a longer period than 
four or five hours, and frequently much less even than this. 
The next circumstance observable is the division of the 
stream ; the reason of which is, that the urethra is in an un- 
even state from the. irregular swelling that surrounds it, and, 
consequently, the urine is thrown with an irregularity of force 
against its, different sides ; sometimes t>\e stream splits into 
two, becoming forked; sometimes it is spiral ; at other times 
It forms, as it were, a thin sheath. Occasionally the stream 
rises perpendicularly, its long axis being at right angles to 
the long axis of the penis ; thus, then, the retention of a few 
drops of urine after the whole appears to have been dis- 



84 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STRICTURE. 

charged, a more frequent propensity to make water than when 
in health, and the peculiar character of the stream, as just men- 
tioned, will be conclusive evidence of the existence of stricture." 
Having now briefly treated of the several varieties of 
stricture, I would here refer to a few of the most harassing 
symptoms separately, as it is of great importance that the 
patient should have a due appreciation of them — the more 
particularly so, as they are generally lightly passed up- 
on by medical writers, which would go to show that few of 
them have a practical knowledge of the disease. It is ex- 
tremely desirable that the existence of a stricture should be 
ascertained as soon as possible : 

1. Persons with urethral strictures are sometimes subject 
to attacks of inflammation of the testicles ; therefore, should 
this symptom occur, the patient should be examined. 

2. Piles and protrusion of the rectum, with itching of the 
part, are not unfrequently indicative of stricture. 

3. Increased secretion of urine is a common symptom of 
stricture, and I have known sixty ounces of urine to be passed 
in the course of twelve hours. 

4. Incontinence of urine is one of the most annoying ac- 
companiments of bad strictures, the patient being sometimes 
troubled with a more or less constant dribbling day and 
night ; in other cases, the incontinence is even much more 
serious, and often causes mental depression. It is usually ob- 
served in strictures of an aggravated kind, in which the urine 
is passed with great difficulty. In some of these cases, the 
poor sufferer is so harassed night and day with this dribbling 
of urine (which is often very feted), that his linen is kept 
constantly wet, and he may thus become an object so offensive 
as to be obliged entirely to exclude himself from society. 

5. Involuntary seminal emissions, when present, add in no 
slight degree to the mental depression, which, more or less, is 
a too frequent accompaniment of urethral obstructions. 

6. A gleety discharge is a very common, if not a constant, 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF STRICTURE. 85 

symptom of stricture. This discharge is often but slight, a 
few yellowish spots being occasionally observed upon the 
linen. Sometimes the discharge occurs only after coition, 
and is often so profuse as to resemble a gonorrhoea, for which 
it is frequently mistaken by the patient. It is usually, how- 
ever, attended with but little scalding, and ceases naturally in 
the course of a few days. The discharge may be brought on 
or aggravated by a cold, or by intemperance. 

7. Diarrhoea is, also, an occasional consequence of bad 
strictures, apparently from irritation extending by sympathy 
to the mucous membrane of the large intestines. 

8. Pain extending down either thigh, though more often 
the left, is at times indicative of stricture. 

9. In bad cases, sterility is sometimes induced from ob- 
struction to the seminal fluid ; and impotence may result from 
irritation extending to the prostatic part of the urethra, caus- 
ing Spermatorrhea. The seminal emission in such cases is 
often attended with acute pain. 

10. The prostate gland, as well as its ducts, sometimes be- 
come inflamed and enlarged by stricture. 

Notwithstanding the catalogue of a patient's miseries with 
a bad stricture may be long and fearful, let him console him- 
self with the assurance, that they will all of them most prob- 
ably eventually disappear, after removal of the urethral 
obstruction. 

It may be as well to notice that the symptoms of strictures 
in general are mostly aggravated in cold weather, especially 
in such as are predisposed to spasm. For example, a person 
suffering from stricture will probably be unable to pass his 
urine whilst exposed to a low temperature in the open air, 
although, on his return to a warm apartment, he may soon, 
under its influence, secure the power of urinating. 

No disease can be considered of more importance, then, to 
the patient than stricture ; and, hence, every sensible and 
prudent person afflicted with it will not fail to avail himself 



86 NEW TREATMENT OF STRICTURE. 

of proper medical aid as soon as the earlier symptoms are per- 
ceived : for there is no disease in which rashness or ignorance 
may effect more deplorable results. 

No subject has more employed the attention of surgeons 
than this complaint, and two methods of cure are employed by 
them all, with the single exception, perhaps, of the Author ; 
these methods are caustic and the bougie. The difficulty of 
introducing such a dangerous remedy into so sensitive a part 
as the urethra, and without ever having the power to regulate 
the extent of its action, will ever be a strong objection among 
careful surgeons to the use of caustic in urethral diseases — 
whether it be the nitrate of silver, or the kali purum. The 
objections to both are equally strong, and the most mischiev- 
ous consequeuces are allowed to have attended their em- 
ployment. These remarks equally apply to the use of caustic 
in seminal diseases. (See Spermatorrhea, Part II). 

Stricture seems to have shown itself at a very early period, 
and the original plan of applying the caustic, introduced by 
Mr. John Hunter, of England, and employed by Mr. Howe 
and Mr. Whately, owes its origin in reality to Ambrose Pare. 
The danger of this practice is now sufficiently established ; 
and its want of efficacy, and the frequency of relapses after its 
use, cannot be better stated than in a letter from a corre- 
spondent, which I shall here quote, as it was applied in his 
case for such a number of times ; and he is now under the 
necessity of resorting to my treatment, after suffering all the 
pain and distress which unavoidably attend this method, and 
being harassed for a length of time with the fruitless pros- 
pect of a cure : 

" Boston, Mass. 
" Sir : — Having labored under strictures of the urethra for many 
years, and, in consequence, having been several times confined — in 
this instance it is now six months since I have been out of my lodgings 
— there is no doubt of my having two strictures at present, the one 
about four inches, and the other about eight, from the point of the 
penis. The first stricture has already been burnt upwards of sixty 



NEW TREATMENT OF STRICTURE. 8t 

times, and there is no appearance of its being any way reduced ; the 
other has not been touched, which induces me to write to you, having 
heard that you have completely removed strictures of the most in- 
veterate kind without the application of caustic or the use of bougies. 
If I thought a cure could be accomplished, having already suffered so 
much, money would be no object. Have the goodness to write to me, 
if such can be effected." 

The Yeratrum Yiride, conjoined with the Iodine and their 
adjuncts, are the remedies employed by me, and exclusively re- 
lied upon, for the radical and permanent cure of the disease in 
question ; and I am of opinion, based upon many years' experi- 
ence in the treatment of stricture, that there are no cases but 
what may be cured by my method. In saying so, I am aware 
that I shall be accused of temerity ; but I speak from an exten- 
sive practice in this line, and have the pride to state that I 
have never yet failed to cure a single patient by this means. 

The chief object with me, in the treatment of stricture, 
is to obtain relaxation of the parts which are the seat of the 
complaint, and which I fully accomplish by the aid of the 
Yeratrum Yiride ; this is my first point. The second is, to 
procure absorption of the organized structure upon which the 
disease mainly depends. If these important objects are at- 
tained — which will, however, require all the skill and judg- 
ment of an experienced adept — this hitherto formidable 
complaint may be cured as expeditiously as is compatible 
with the safety and welfare of the patient. 

The success which has attended the method I pursue, leads 
me to speak with a confidence which practitioners may per- 
haps think too great on my part ; but I can solmenly again 
repeat, that I never have failed in a single instance that has 
come under my care, since I adopted the plan I now recom- 
mend, nor have any of my patients suffered the least relapse. 
That I have failed in pursuing the common methods, recom- 
mended by other authors, I cannot deny ; and therefore I was 
obliged to abandon them, from finding them ineffectual in ac- 
complishing a cure. The idea of completely relaxing the 



88 NEW TREATMENT OF STRICTURE. 

parts previous to any attempt at dilating the passage then 
forcibly struck rue, as, in this disease, there are two points to 
evercome : the one is the resistance of the urethra, which is 
so great under this disease ; and the other, the opposition of 
the stricture itself, rendered even greater by the spasm ex- 
tending also to the morbid substance. Instead, then, of con- 
sidering the preparatory operation as a secondary point, I 
view it as the most essential of the whole, and the one upon 
which the success of the cure mainly depends. Other practi- 
tioners, on the contrary, have trusted to their dexterity in 
passing the bougie, and therefore have omitted or under- 
valued this point, so highly necessary to success. 

This method so considerably abridges the treatment of 
stricture, that a cure, which, under other management, would 
require several months, I am generally able to complete in 
the course of a few weeks. The patient is thus saved a world 
of distress consequent upon the repeated introduction of 
bougies — a circumstance of the highest consequence from 
feelings of humanity, even were there no other good and sub- 
stantial reason, which, however, there is, namely, that of the 
mischief arising from the ignorant or careless use of the 
bougie, or catheter — a mischief so commonly perpetrated as to 
deter patients, in countless instances, from submitting to 
treatment by bougies, if to any treatment whatever : thus re- 
signing themselves to more misery than I have either the 
inclination or space to describe in this essay. 

In concluding this subject, I would apprise the sufferers 
from stricture, that the New Treatment can be successfully 
carried through without an interview, unless the patient pre- 
fers it ; which is sometimes of importance to those who reside 
at too great a distance from Xew York to call. This is effected 
by the person writing a minutely-detailed description of his 
symptoms, the length of time they have existed, the state of 
his general health, what treatment, if any, has been pursued ; 
together with his age, temperament, color of hair, eye3, com- 



NEW TREATMENT OF STRICTURE. 89 

plexion, and any other points which he may see fit to com- 
municate as to occupation, general habits, whether he be 
single or married, &c. Medicines adapted to the case can 
be sent, properly packed and sealed, by express or other con- 
veyance, so that they shall reach their destination safely and 
expeditiously, being of sufficiently small bulk to be included 
in a pocket package. They are thus sent to the most distant 
parts, including California, South America, the West Indies, 
&c. 



ESSAY THE SIXTH. 

[From the Author's Diseases and Infirmities of Youth.— -New York, 1854.] 



" But now the plague attacks 
With double rancour, and severely marks 
Modern offenders ; slily undermines 
The face and nose, that by unseemly lapse 
Awkward deforms the human face divine 
With ghastly ruins : such ills attend 
Obscene and bought embraces." — Brown. 



The various forms of disease, resulting as a general rule 
from promiscuous intercourse with the opposite sex, have 
been classed together, and denominated the Yenereal Disease. 
Whatever symptoms presented themselves under these cir- 
cumstances, have been viewed only as modifications or phases 
of one grand affection, the result of a specific poison : at least 
this was the view universally taken of the subject prior to 
the investigations of Eicord, and which is still entertained 
by many professional men, and by nearly the whole of the 
masses of non-professional. The late Dr. Wallace declared 
that syphilis and gonorrhoea were but varieties of the same 
disease, and certain it is that the major part of those who 
apply to us for advice know of no other difference between 
them. Yenereal disease, however, if the term be used in its 
broadest sense, must be looked upon as a generic term, in- 
cluding affections of the genital organs, essentially different 
in their character, symptoms, and sometimes in their origin. 
The term itself is perhaps objectionable, but, for want of 
a better, must be employed : I shall use it, therefore, as a 



THE VENEREAL DISEASE. 91 

general denomination of all those disorders coming more or 
less directly from sexual intercourse. 

The origin of the venereal disease is shrouded in mystery : 
much has been written on the subject, but with little result : 
the labors of Astruc, Sanches, Gittner, and a score of other 
authors, who have devoted their time and their talents to the 
solution of this problem, have been little more than labor lost 
and time thrown away. It has been customary to ascribe its 
introduction into Europe to Columbus, and the sailors who 
returned with him from America : by this means it is said to 
have been imported from the new world. Even supposing, 
however, this to be correct, it still leaves the question of its 
origin undecided. " Could not," says Eicord, " the Ameri- 
cans ask us, or ask themselves, where they had it from ?" It 
is quite certain that the disease is not more innate in that 
country than in any other ; and as for the elevated tempera- 
ture, which has been looked upon as one of the causes of 
syphilis in America, it may be objected that the temperature 
of some part of the Eastern hemisphere is just as high. But 
the fact of its being so imported is exceedingly improbable : 
there are several circumstances which militate against this 
theory, such as the power of a few sailors to infect the half- 
dozen different nations in which the disease appeared at that 
time, the preservation of the faculty of inoculation during so 
long a voyage, &c. Sometimes it has been declared to be 
the result of unnatural connexion ; at another, its origin has 
been discovered in the air or water ; and anon it has been 
traced to the influence of the stars ; or to anthropophagy. A 
more common opinion, and a more probable one, is that of 
Yan Helmont, who attributed syphilis to farcy transmitted 
from the horse to the human being. Certain it is, that the 
antiquity of this disease is very great : references are made 
frequently in the Scriptures to complaints which bear a 
striking resemblance to gonorrhoea (vide Leviticus, ch. xv.), 
and in some few cases syphilis is mentioned, though not by 



92 THE VENEREAL DISEASE. 

name (vide Leviticus xiii. 2). "Hippocrates speaks of an 
ulceration of the genital organs ; Galen mentions the conta- 
gious nature of Blennorrhagia ; and Celsus gives a description 
of the different affections of the parts of generation. The 
Greeks, the Arabs (Avicenna Aretaeus Albucans), and the 
Physicians of Eome have one and all given descriptions 
which cannot be mistaken." — Ricord. Indeed, it is probable 
that it was known in all ages and in all countries. Wherever 
sexual intercourse has taken place, there the venereal has been 
found ; and Voltaire spoke the truth when he said : — " It is 
with syphilis as with the fine arts, it grows, comes to perfec- 
tion, and no one knows whence it came." 

I have already stated that I use the term, venereal disease, 
in its widest sense, and, consequently, I include in it two dis- 
eases of an entirely different character ; these are, gonorrhoea 
and syphilis : on each of these I shall say a few words. 

1. Gonorrhoea. — This term is used to describe that dis- 
charge from the urethra commonly and vulgarly called clap. 
Both these terms are, however, exceedingly inappropriate : 
the latter is derived from the French word, clajner, signifying a 
filthy abscess, whereas, there is really no abscess formed ; and 
the former is derived from the Greek, Tov7t } semen, and Pe a> s 
to flow, and has, therefore, nearly the same meaning as sperma- 
torrhoea, having been employed when it was supposed the 
disease depended upon a discharge of semen. Other terms 
have been suggested, and are frequently employed, such as 
Blennorrhagia, from Blsvva, mucus, and Peco, to flow, 
signifying a discharge of mucus. This, perhaps, is the most 
appropriate, if applied to the early state of the disease, for, 
as I shall presently show you, in the latter state its character 
is entirely changed: puorrhgea, signifying a discharge of 
pus ; this would be more correctly applied to the latter stage 
of the disease : mucitis, signifying inflammation of the mu- 
cous membrane : venereal catarrh, arsura, Brenning ; and it 
has even been suggested to call it leucorrhcea, a term which 



THE VENEREAL DISEASE.} 93 

is now employed to describe that discharge in females called, 
in common language, the whites. I shall use the term gonor- 
rhoea, however, in this essay ; not because it is more appro- 
priate than the others, but because it is better understood. 

Gonorrhoea is not a specific disease, that is to say, it is not 
the result of a specific poison. As sexual intercourse is the 
most favorable means for developing it, it generally arises 
from an impure connexion, but not always. Any acrid or 
purulent matter brought into contact with the mucous mem- 
brane of the urethra, will be very likely to give rise to it : 
frequently it has its origin in mere mechanical causes, and 
sometimes in substances taken internally, either as articles of 
diet or medicine. I have known cases where it has originated 
in the following causes : viz., food or drink of a stimulating 
or exciting character. (Among the various articles of diet 
which have a tendency to produce this discharge the worst 
are salt provisions, asparagus, and beer ;) excessive sexual 
intercourse, masturbation, local irritation, such as passing a 
catheter or bougie, injections, inattention to cleanliness, 
worms, cohabiting with a woman suffering from the whites, 
or even laboring under the menstrual discharge ; so that, you 
perceive, if a man contracts a gonorrhoea of a female, it by 
no means follows that the female of whom he contracted it 
suffered from that disease ; she may have been quite as free 
from it as he was. This is a matter of great importance, as 
unpleasantness and unhappiness have frequently arisen in a 
family, between man and wife, in consequence of their enter- 
taining the common opinion that gonorrhoea must be the re- 
sult of a specific contagion, and, consequently, of an impure 
connexion. 

The first Symptoms of gonorrhoea are the itching, irrita- 
tion, and heat of the mucous membrane of* the urethra, and 
in the course of a short time, a discharge will make its 
appearance, which will vary in color, consistence, and smell, 
according to the' severity of the attack, and other circum- 



94 THE VENEREAL DISEASE. 

stances. Generally, when it first makes its appearance, it 
consists of a thin, white, watery fluid, and is then simply 
mucus, the natural secretion of the part, but excessive in 
quantity, and vitiated in quality. It speedily changes its 
color, becoming yellow, and in this condition, if not checked, 
lasts for some time ; ultimately, however, it again changes, 
and loses the yellow tint, becomes more watery, and passes 
into that state termed gleet ; in this condition it may last for 
years. It not unfrequently happens that persons consult me 
who have been laboring under a discharge of this kind for 
seven or eight years ; and Ricord mentions persons who con- 
tracted the disease at the peace of Amiens, in 1800, and who 
had not got rid of it when he saw them in 1840, and must, 
therefore, have suffered from this affection for forty years. 
These cases are, however, exceedingly rare, because, generally, 
in the course of a year it gives rise to stricture, or some other 
equally bad result. 

In the early stage of this complaint, the difficulty of treat- 
ing it is not great, but in the latter it is one of the most 
difficult diseases to cure. The common remedies, however, are 
generally ineffectual, even in the early stage, as might be 
expected, these remedies being given on the principle that 
gonorrhoea is a constitutional disease, whereas it is purely 
local, originating in local causes, producing local results, and 
consequently requiring local remedies. In nine cases out of 
ten, where persons contract this disease, it passes into the 
chronic form, in consequence of the treatment adopted being 
constitutional. The filthy rubbish called balsam of copaiva, 
and cubebs, are the almost invariable remedies resorted to in 
these cases,^and the result maybe easily judged of; the disease 
remains, and the system becomes affected by the medicines 
taken internally"; the patient therefore labors under two 
diseases instead of one. 

C. J. B — called on me for advice, under the following cir- 
cumstances. He had contracted a gonorrhoea about five 



THE VENEREAL DISEASE. 95 

months before; had applied immediately to some one for 
advice, and had taken large doses of balsam of copaiva. The 
disease, however, got no better, the discharge still remained, 
and recently an eruption made its appearance on various 
parts of the body, which his medical adviser informed him 
was syphilis. He then came to me, and immediately I saw 
him, I informed him that the eruption was the result of the 
copaiva he had taken, and requested him to take no more, 
and wait on me again in a few days. When he called on me 
again, about a week after, the eruption had entirely disap- 
peared. I then applied local remedies for the gonorrhoea, or 
rather gleet, which still remained. In a fortnight later he 
was quite recovered. 

To treat gonorrhoea successfully, requires great care and 
skill on the part of the practitioner, the difficulty arising from 
various circumstances. In the first place, the canal in which 
it has its seat, being very narrow, it is exceedingly difficult 
to bring a remedy in contact with the affected part ; then the 
urine washing over the diseased portion of the canal four or 
five times a day, causes a great degree of irritation ; and, 
lastly, we find the greatest difficulty in preventing a harden- 
ing or thickening of the mucous membrane : this is very like- 
ly to occur, either from the disease or the remedy, and con- 
stitutes a stricture. There are more cases of stricture arising 
from badly-treated cases of gonorrhoea, than from all other 
causes put together. 

In the later stage of gonorrhoea it is much more difficult 
to treat than in the earlier stage. It has now passed into a 
chronic form, the discharge has become of a muco-purulent 
character, there is no scalding pain in passing water, the lips 
of the meatus will, in the morning, probably be found glued 
together, and a very small quantity of discharge escapes on 
the linen ; a stain is left like that of gum. This is that stage 
called gleet, or rather one of the several symptoms taking 
that name, for the term gleet is frequently applied to half-a- 



96 THE VENEREAL DISEASE. 

dozen different kinds of discharge ; even spermatorrhoea is 
sometimes denominated gleet. This, however, is the true 
gleet, or chronic gonorrhoea ; or, as the French call it, chronic 
balanitis. A gonorrhoea once having passed into gleet, will 
be likely to remain in statu quo for years, but will be much 
aggravated by taking wine, violent exercise, or any other 
powerful stimulant. Treatment may appear to stop it, but 
the probability is, that as soon as the patient ceases to take 
medicine, it will break out again, in another and a worse 
form, if treated in the usual routine way. 

J — D — , Esq., writes me that he contracted a gonorrhoea 
when about twenty years of age, but paid no attention to it, 
till he became so bad that he was compelled — e. g. he suffer- 
ed from chordee, violent inflammation, and excessive swelling ; 
he then obtained a few bottles of medicine from his medical 
adviser, and the swelling disappeared, the pain left, the dis- 
charge stopped, and he imagined himself quite well. Several 
weeks later, however, on having taken a few glasses of wine 
more than usual in the evening, a white] gleety discharge 
appeared the morning following, treatment was again resort- 
ed to, and again the discharge stopped. Three months after, 
he was riding on horseback, and being in a hurry rode very 
fast, and a second time the discharge returned. This time it 
never left him till I saw him, which was fourteen years after, 
nor had any treatment that he had adopted appeared to touch 
it. Cubebs he had taken, to use his own expression, " bush- 
els of," and copaiva " in pailsfal." Injections he had 
employed without number ; but nothing did him good. In 
this state he remained until he wrote to me. I forwarded him 
medicine into the country where he resided, and in a few weeks 
I had the gratification of knowing that the discharge had been 
stopped ; and, a short time since, the still greater gratifica- 
tion of knowing that it had never returned since, though 
now more than four years ago. 

II. Syphilis. — This disease is the result of a specific poi- 



THE VENEREAL DISEASE. > 91 

son, though what is the exact nature of that poison we 
cannot tell ; for, says a popular author, " its active principle 
has never yet been discovered in a separate or distinct form ; 
nor do we know rightly either its appearance, color, sub- 
stance, or consistence, or any other of its precise chemical 
properties, further than the appearance of the matter that 
contains the poison ; but in this there is no difference from 
any other diseased secretion, as, for instance, as far as exter- 
nal appearance goes, the matter of the small pox, or the pus 
issuing from any other ulceration or wound, might be taken 
for the same. Hence, all we know of the poison existing in 
the venereal matter is, " that its morbid action consists in a 
certain animal acrimony, differing in its qualities and effects, 
and which is no sooner brought into contact with the living 
parts, than, by the violent irritation and inflammation it is 
capable of exciting, it speedily destroys all healthy action, 
corroding through the substance, causing deep ulcerations 
and morbid secretions, while, at the same time that it creates 
those purulent secretions from such sores, it likewise converts 
the matter into its own specific poison." This disease never 
arises sua sponte, but is always the result of contagion from 
another person ; not always the result of sexual intercourse, 
because any mode by which the poison can be introduced 
into the system may give rise to it ; e. g., you will find a 
model in my cabinet, of a child who received a syphilitic 
taint from its parents, and communicated syphilis of a very 
bad form to the nurse who suckled it ; this case occurred in 
my own practice. The poison of syphilis may be introduced 
into the system by inoculation, or by bringing the body of a 
healthy person in contact with that of a person suffering from 
the disease. 

A case came before my notice, a short time since, and a 

model of which you will also find in my cabinet, of a young 

man who contracted syphilis, and suffered severely from ulcers 

in the mouth ; the mode by which the poison was introduced 

5 



98 THE VENEREAL DISEASE. 

into his system being caused by using a dirty^)ipe, which had 
been employed by some person suffering from chancres in the 
mouth. Whether, however, it arrives in this way or by in- 
tercourse with the opposite sex, it is equally the result of a 
specific poison. 

The great characteristic of syphilis is the ulcer called a 
chancre. This is its type, and is consequently inseparably 
connected with it. The great difference between syphilis and 
gonorrhoea was decided by Ricord, by inoculating with the 
matter taken from a chancre, and the discharge from the 
urethra in gonorrhoea. In the former case, another chancre 
was always the result, in the latter, no effect whatever was 
produced. A chancre, therefore, always arises from the 
secretion of another chancre, which it reproduces. The 
greater or less liability to these venereal ulcers depends to a 
great extent upon the power of the constitution to throw off 
the poisonous matter, and upon the peculiar condition of the 
cuticle ; for we generally find that in those men where the 
prepuce is long, covering the glans penis, and consequently 
preserving its surface delicate and tender, there is a much 
greater susceptibility to the disease than in those persons in 
whom the glans penis is continually uncovered, either from 
the foreskin being naturally short, or from circumcision hav- 
ing been performed. Hence two persons may cohabit with 
the same female ; one may contract the disease in a very bad 
form, and the other escape entirely free. 

The first symptoms of the chancre are itching of the parts, 
this changes to smarting, then sharp pains come on, and after 
that, inflammation ; this is followed by a small pimple mak- 
ing its appearance, filled with the poisonous matter, which 
ultimately bursts and forms those corrosive sores. The char- 
acteristics of these ulcers are the surrounding inflammation, 
the ragged edges, hardened base, and indisposition to heal. 
A chancre may appear in a day or two after the coition, or 
it may not appear for two months. They are exceedingly 
dangerous if not stopped at the onset. 



THE VENEREAL DISEASE. 



99 



J. F — cohabited with a female, and felt no inconvenience 
till about three weeks after, when he noticed a small pimple 
on the glans ; this he rubbed off, thinking it was nothing of 
any importance. In the course of a few days, however, a 
small sore began to appear, and now, fearing it might be a 
chancre, he determined to seek medical advice. On doing 
so, he received sundry doses of mercury — the common remedy 
in cases of the kind ; this he continued taking week after 
week, and applying black wash (also mercury *) to the 
ulcers, but continually got worse, as the sores were running 
together, reducing the whole of the glans penis to the appear- 
ance of a honeycomb of sores. In this state he called upon 
me. I found him not only laboring under the primary ulcers, 
but suffering very severely from the effects of the mercury. 
Ordered him to discontinue the mercurial medicine, and also 
the black wash, prescribed remedies internal and external, 
and had the pleasure to see my patient quite restored in 
three weeks. 

The affections resulting from syphilis and the diseases com- 
plicated with it are very numerous ; the most important of 
the former, however, are those affections of the skin, face, 
throat, mouth, tongue, eyes, bones, etc., called secondary symp- 
toms, but these I have not space to describe here f ; suffice it 
to say that they are produced by the poison in the constitu- 
tion, and are consequently the result either of neglecting the 
disease at the onset, or of not treating it properly — the result 
either of no treatment, or of bad treatment. The length of 
time that this poison may remain in the system is perfectly 
surprising. 

G. M — consulted me in regard to a swelling of the throat, 
and a sore upon the tongue. On examining it, I had no hes- 
itation in immediately declaring it to have had a syphilitic 



* Black wash is made by adding a drachm of calomel to half a pint of lime 
water, and sometimes a teaspoonful of laudanum. 
t See " Synopsis of Symptoms and Causes/ 7 Essay 1, page 35. 



100 SECONDARY SYMPTOMS. 

origin. This surprised the patient exceedingly, as he assured 
me that he had never suffered from the venereal disease but 
once, and that was at least twenty years before. He stated 
that at the time he certainly was very bad with the disease, 
but that it was cured, as he thought, and since that time he 
had felt nothing of it. Still there could be no doubt the 
symytoms, respecting which he now consulted me, were 
secondary symptoms, the results of the former attack, and of 
the mercury taken to cure it. I administered remedies, and 
in a few days the swelling of the throat and the other symp- 
toms entirely disappeared. 

Here it may be as well to remark, that in the majority of 
cases which come before my notice of persons who imagine 
they are suffering from secondary symptoms, I find them 
laboring under not secondary symptoms of syphilis at all, but 
under the results of former mercurial treatment. Hence the 
importance of the syphilitic poison being destroyed imme- 
diately it enters the system, and the mercurial poison being 
rarely admitted, never, in fact, but in the most extreme cases, 
and then only under the care of an experienced and skilful 
physician. 



CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF 

SECONDARY (CONSTITUTIONAL) ^SYMPTOMS. 

The secondary symptoms of the Yenereal disease consist of 
various eruptions, sore throat, ulcerations of the palate and 
nose, pains in the limbs, inflammation of the membrane cov- 
ering the bones called periosteum, caries or rotting of the 
bones, inflammation of the eyes, falling off of the hair, deaf- 
ness, and general ill-health and debility. 

Of all the loathsome consequences of Yenereal taints those 
arising from the secondary action of the syphilitic poison 
seem most to evidence the effects of Divine vengeance upon 



SECONDARY SYMPTOMS. 101 

the sufferer, and to communicate misery and anguish to his 
friends. I shall here only describe the symptoms of the dis- 
ease, and detail some of its consequences, to apprise my 
readers of their danger, and to impress upon them the 
immediate necessity of medical aid. 

The eruptions are occasionally various, sometimes they 
appear in pustules, at others in tubercles, at one time in 
pimples, at another in scales. Before the eruption comes out 
the patient has more or less fever, pains in the head and 
shoulders, oppression at the chest, the throat is a good deal 
affected, there is difficulty in swallowing, the glands are en- 
larged, and the eyes are often suffused with blood ; the 
patient is generally indisposed without complaining of any 
symptom in particular, the eye is languid, the countenance 
pallid and anxious, there is pain in the limbs, tenderness of 
the head, and perhaps headache, especially at night ; there is 
severe pain in the joints, especially in those of the knees and 
ankles, and a very horrible form of sore throat frequently 
accompanies the eruption. 

When it comes in scales, it first makes its appearance in 
red patches, of a dusky or copper color, which give the 
skin the appearance of being mottled, especially about the 
forehead, neck, chest, and lower part of the belly, where it 
is most copious, the redness soon disappears, and is followed 
by a scurf or scale. In the more serious forms of this dis- 
ease the most awful consequences result from the venereal 
virus, and if unchecked, the weary existence is spun out for 
many weeks, amid tortures from the contemplation of which 
the miod turns with shuddering ; all is horror, the whole 
frame becomes putrid, loathsome, and corrupt, the various 
organs mortify and drop off, till at last the poison seizes the 
vitals, and finishes a life of insupportable anguish and dis- 
graceful misery. 

In the female sex, this disease is attended with other 
peculiar circumstances. Women are liable from it to sup- 



102 SECONDARY SYMPTOMS. 

pressions, or immoderate discharges of the periodical evacua- 
tions, to the fluor albus or whites, to hysteric fits, to cancers 
in the breast and to the same disorder, together with other 
ab cesses, ulcers, inflammation, scirrhus, and mortification of 
the womb ; those who labor under this disease are in general 
barren or subject to abortion, a happy circumstance, as the 
children produced from such subjects, come into the world 
deformed with ulcers, affected with rottenness, and covered 
with foul eruptions. 

Such are the symptoms of a malady imprudently and dis- 
gracefully contracted, and in a state of neglect or misman- 
agement, and much does it behoove mankind, and young per- 
sons of both sexes especially, to attend to the alarming 
catalogue, and consider the dreadful consequences attending 
the indulgence of those passions which were inspired by the 
Almighty for purposes of wisdom and mercy, which directed 
to proper ends, are equally conducive to health, happiness, 
and reputation ; but being turned into the channels of vice, 
produce disease of body and depravity of mind, and unfit the 
wretched victim of his lusts for the comforts of society, or 
the pleasures of intercourse and communication with the 
world. 

Before I quit the subject, it may not be improper for me 
to remark that the first object of attention is cleanliness ; 
without the practice of this necessary precaution, the best 
prescriptions will be fruitless, and the most efficacious medi- 
cines administered in vain. Slight infections are frequently 
removed by a due regard to this advice, in external washings 
and frequent injections, and if this method were pursued when- 
ever suspicion was entertained of infection being received, it 
would probably, in many instances, prevent the venereal poi- 
son from taking effect at all. Water, with a small addition 
of spirits, or oil and warm milk and water are almost always 
at hand, and as the use of them is attended with little trouble 
and no inconvenience, it is astonishing that men should lose 



SECONDARY SYMPTOMS. 103 

such favorable opportunities of preserving health on such fair 
and reasonable terms. 

In the article of exercise, the less motion, and particularly 
of a violent nature, the patient takes, the more speedily he 
will in all probability get rid of his complaint. 

Above all it behooves those who are visited by these 
diseases, to remember that it is not enough that the symp- 
toms abate, or even that they wholly disappear ; both 
frequently happen before the virulent matter is totally ex- 
pelled, and the smallest remaining particle will be sufficient 
to light the flame afresh, when it is no longer resisted by the 
administration and operation of medicine. 

Necessity frequently, expediency always, makes it desirable 
to obtain a cure with the utmost expedition, and to this end 
the patient not unfrequently takes his medicines too hastily 
and leaves them off much too early : if men would be con- 
vinced that it is more safe to continue the use of them a 
month too long than to discontinue them a day too soon, cir- 
cumstances of a very unhappy and melancholy nature would 
often be avoided. If the poison be not totally expelled, the 
disease breaks out afresh, the symptoms are always aggra- 
vated, and new ones commonly occur, the patient is obliged to 
resume the course of medicine ; but the same impatience pre- 
vails, he stops short of the cure, and by repeated indiscretions 
of the same kind eventually ruins his constitution and entails 
misery on himself and his posterity. I would earnestly recom- 
mend to such of my readers as may have unfortunately con- 
tracted the disease, to continue the use of moderate medicines 
a considerable time beyond the appearance of indisposition. 

Having now nearly completed my self-imposed task, I 
would earnestly recommend to my readers of both sexes, more 
particularly those whose youth and inexperience may render 
them most liable to the dire evils I have described, an attentive 
perusal of the dreadful catalogue of symptoms attendant on 
these diseases in their different degrees and appearances. 



/ 



104 SECONDARY SYMPTOMS. 

Let them figure to themselves the loathsome object of this 
foul contagion rendered equally useless and obnoxious to 
society, and creeping about the world covered with sores, 
ulcers, and offensive eruptions ; his eyes sunk, weakened, and 
inflamed ; his hearing impaired, his teeth loosened, his breath 
foetid, his strength exhausted, and his faculties clouded or 
confused : let them hear him complain of insufferable pains 
by day, and unremitting tortures by night ; let them remark 
that his wretched case is unlamented and unpitied ; that he is 
avoided by all but those who, from duty or obligation, are 
compelled to minister to his wants ; and that even his former 
companions desert him, and leave him a prey to the compli- 
cated horrors of his disease and his reflections. 

Let them compare this dreadful spectacle with the health, 
vigor and bloom of youth, the erect form, the manly tread, 
the lively and penetrating eye, the quick apprehension and 
the universal sprightliness and alacrity of the untainted and 
uncontaminated youth ; and let them ask themselves if the 
gratification and indulgence of the passions be worth pur- 
chasing at the price of such a contrast. 

"V* Nodes, or Venereal Diseases of the Bones, are for the 
most part formed on the long bones, though now and then 
on the flat ones, and particularly on the forehead : they are 
caused by a thickened state of the periosteum (the mem- 
brane that covers the bones), caused by inflammation of that 
part, and by a deposition of extra bony matter under the 
part of the periosteum so inflamed. 



ESSAY THE SEVENTH. 



PLAIN AND EASY RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 

For the benefit of those who desire, through the blessing 
of God, and the study and practice of Virtue, to retain the 
health which they have recovered, or are undergoing a course 
of treatment for the recovery thereof, the following few, plain 
and easy rules are given :— 

I. The air we breathe is of great consequence to our health. Those 
who have been long abroad in easterly or northerly winds, should 
drink some thin and warm liquor on going to bed, or a draught of 
water with a toast. 

II. Tender people should have those who lie with them, or are much 
about them, sound, sweet, and healthy. 

III. Every one who would preserve health, should be as clean and 
sweet as possible in their houses, clothes and furniture. 

IV. The great rule for eating and drinking is to suit the quality 
and quantity of food to the strength of the digestion ; to take always 
such a sort and such a measure of food as sits light and easy upon 
the stomach. 

V. All pickled or smoked, or salted, or high-seasoned food is un- 
wholesome. 

VI. Nothing conduces more to health, than abstinence and plain 
food, with due labor. 

VII. For studious persons, about eight ounces of animal food, and 
twelve of vegetable, in twenty-four hours, are sufficient. 

VIII. Water is the most wholesome of all drinks ; it quickens the 
appetite, and strengthens the digestion most. 

IX. Strong, and more especially spirituous liquors, are a certain 
though slow poison. Experience shows there is very seldom any dan- 
ger in leaving them off all at once. Strong liquors do not prevent 
the mischiefs of a surfeit, nor carry it off so safely as water. 

5* 



106 RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 

X. Malt liquors, except clear small beer, or small ale, of due age, 
are exceeding hurtful to tender persons. 

XI. Coffee and tea are extremely hurtful to persons of weak nerves. 

XII. Tender persons should eat very light suppers ; and that two 
or three hours before going to bed. 

XIII. They should go to bed about nine, and rise at four or five. 

XIV. A due degree of exercise is indispensably necessary to health 
or long life. 

XV. Walking is the best exercise for those who are able to bear it; 
riding for those who are not. The open air, when the weather is fair, 
contributes much to the benefit of exercise. 

XYI. We may strengthen any part of the body by constant exer- 
cise. Thus the lungs may be strengthened by loud speaking, or walk- 
ing up an easy ascent ; the digestion and nerves by riding ; the arms 
and hams, by strongly rubbing them daily. 

XVII. The studious ought to have stated times for exercise, at least 
two or three times a day ; the one half of this before dinner, the other 
before going to bed. They should frequently shave, and frequently 
wash their feet. 

XVIII. Those who read or write much, should learn to do it stand- 
ing ; otherwise they will impair their health. 

XIX. The fewer clothes any one uses, the hardier he will be. 

XX. Exercise should always be on an empty stomach ; should never 
be continued to weariness ; and after it, we should take time to cool 
by degrees, otherwise we shall catch cold. 

XXI. The flesh-brush is a most useful exercise, especially to 
strengthen any part that is weak. 

XXII. Cold-bathing is of great advantage to health ; it prevents 
abundance of diseases. It promotes perspiration, helps the circula- 
tion of the blood, and prevents the danger of catching cold. Tender 
people should pour water upon the head before they go in, and walk 
swiftly. To jump in with the head foremost, is too great a shock to 
nature. 

XXIII. Costiveness cannot long exist with health ; therefore care 
should be taken to remove it at the beginning ; and when it is re- 
moved, to prevent its return, by soft, cool, open diet. 

XXIV. Obstructed perspiration (vulgarly called catching cold) is 
one great source of diseases. Whenever there appears the least sign 
of this, let it be removed by gentle sweats. 

XXV. The passions have a greater influence on health than most 
people are aware of. 



RULES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 10 1 

XXVI. All violent and sudden passion, such as grief and hopeless 
love, bring on chronical diseases. 

XXVII. Till the passion which caused the disease is calmed, medi- 
cine is applied in vain. 

XXVIII. The Love of Man, as it is the sovereign remedy for all 
miseries, so in particular it effectually prevents all the bodily disorders 
the passions introduce, by keeping the passions themselves within due 
bounds. And by the unspeakablejoy and perfect calm, serenity and 
tranquility it gives the mind, it becomes the most powerful means of 
health and long life. 

XXIX. It is in vain for people to take medicine for any disorder 
whatever, if they do not pay some attention to their mode of living, 
during the administration of proper remedies ; for the best prescrip- 
tions may be rendered useless by inattention to these particulars ; 
whilst good nursing, and a due regard to diet, are great assistants to 
the most able physician. It is therefore desired that particular atten- 
tion may be paid to the directions concerning regimen, &c, which 
are treated of in this book. 



108 NOTICE. 

NOTICE. 

TIME AND MONEY SAVED BY EARLY ATTENTION TO DISEASE. 

Of all diseases, none will repay a patient better for an early 
acknowledgment of his having contracted it, in the facility 
of a cure, than the Venereal Disease, in any and all of its 
local forms. At the commencement, the disease may often 
be subdued. in forty-eight hours ; but if delayed, it is only by 
a systematic and comparatively protracted course of treat- 
ment that it can be effectually eradicated from the system. 

In nineteen out of twenty cases, if application be speedily 
made, immediately the disease is perceived, or, what is still 
better, within twenty-four hours after a suspicious connexion, 
when this is practicable, it will give little or no trouble to the 
patient ; for then the disease may be either prevented or sup- 
pressed, by the skilful administration of prophylactics ; or if 
taken in its very inception, it may be readily cut short and 
cured by the abortive method ; and it is only where, in such 
cases, peculiarity of habit is presented, that any more time 
need be lost or difficulty experienced. At least, such has 
been my experience, and is, I doubt not, that of every com- 
petent surgeon practically conversant with this peculiar class 
of diseases. 



PAET II 



A TREATISE ON 



SPEEMATOEEHOEA, 



ASK ITS CONCOMITANT DISEASES. 



INTRODUCTION 

TO THE TREATISE ON SPERMATORRHEA, AND ITS 
CONCOMITANT DISEASES. 



This succinct and unpretending monograph is 
designed, more especially, for the personal and 
careful consideration of youths and young men, 
who may unfortunately be afflicted, from whatever 
cause, with Spermatorrhea, Involuntary Seminal 
Emissions, Premature Decay, Impotence, Urinary 
Deposits, Nervous Debility, Nervo-Mental affec- 
tions, Consumption, and impediments -to the mar- 
riage contract generally. That it will be found, on 
examination, to be an eminently plain, practical, 
and therefore a desirable publication, highly con- 
tributing to the benefit of the rising generation, the 
Author, judging from an ample experience in the 
treatment of these all-important diseases, con- 
fidently believes. 

In introducing this little work to those who have 
not yet had an opportunity of reading the writer's 
more elaborate treatise, entitled Medical Information 
for the Million, etc., he must refer, for a further ex- 
planation of its object and purpose, to the Pre- 
liminary Chapter, in which the destructive conse- 
quences of Spermatorrhoea are alluded to generally, 
in connection with its causes and treatment. 

Being intended to take the place of those filthy 
and dangerous quack books (true medical garbage) 
with which the country is well nigh inundated, to 
the great detriment of the health, happiness, and 



112 INTRODUCTION 

future prospects of those who confide in their 
plausible but specious and destructive promises, 
which, " like pie-crust, are made only to be 
broken/ 7 it is thought this brief treatise will be 
productive of much good to those for whom it has 
been (necessarily hastily) written. A book of this 
description, unexceptionable in language or tone, 
is in fact a much required desideratum, which will 
doubtless be hailed with no little satisfaction by 
all, save the lowest class of readers ; for these lat- 
ter, the "picture books" mentioned in the preface 
to this work are probably best adapted, because it 
is for the vulgar that such trash is especially de- 
signed. 

Hence, it is presumed that all sensible young 
men, laboring under any of the forms of this in- 
sidious disease, into whose hands this book may 
chance to come, as well as those who may have been 
disappointed in the use of cauterization, curative 
instruments, spermatorrhoea rings, "urethral sup- 
porters/ 7 or " compressors," patent medicines, and 
like delusions of the " self-cure " charlatanism of the 
times, will early avail themselves of the advan- 
tages which recent improvements in medical 
science, judiciously employed, so effectually, safely, 
and painlessly confer. 

To those, however, who are simple enough to be- 
lieve that this complicated disease, Spermatorrhea, 
is curable by " self-treatment," as set forth by cer- 
tain dishonorable persons, who, under the disguise 
of false names, pretend that their specifics and decep- 
tive instruments will enable "all, or nearly all," to 



INTRODUCTION. 113 

cure themselves of involuntary emissions, or, indeed, 
of anything else, these remarks are not addressed. 
No competent or honorable-minded man will, for a 
moment, hold out any such delusive idea to the un- 
thinking, the medically-ignorant, and the unfortu- 
nate, because he well knows that such were neither 
more nor less than sheer falsehood — cruel and 
shameful swindling ; age, constitution, and the in- 
dividual peculiarities of each and every case, must be 
well weighed and carefully considered, before the 
conscientious and able surgeon, who values his pro- 
fessional reputation, will proceed to treat this deli- 
cate class of complaints. Therefore, let it be well 
understood, that the author addresses himself to 
the intelligent and discriminating reader exclu- 
sively. 

The above observations, of course, refer to those 
cases of Spermatorrhoea, Impotence, etc., only, 
which require, for the purpose of a more speedy cure, 
the introduction of the author's Medicated Bougie ; 
in all other instances, the patient may, with care, be 
successfully attended to by letter, when the party 
residing out of New York, cannot well leave home 
or business to visit the city. 

The chapters on Nervous, Mental, and Con- 
sumptive diseases, included in this Part II., merit 
unusual attention on the part of the reader, as 
these affections almost invariably arise from, or 
grow out of, seminal debility, in some one or 
another of its various forms. In the Appendix, 
also, some few matters of great importance to the 
reader may be found. 



EEMARKS 

ON 

THE AUTHOR'S PECULIAR MODE OF TREATMENT.* 



" Till the hour of sickness comes, how few non-medical persons ever think 
of a subject which ought to be of interest to all." — Dr. Franklin. 



It has been said that to know a disease is half the cure. 
Doubtless this is the fact, when applied to many of those 
maladies which flesh is heir to, but is certainly very far from 
being correct when applied to the diseases noticed in the 
foregoing and following pages. Few persons will have any 
difficulty in ascertaining whether or not they are suffering 
from gonorrhoea, or laboring under syphilis ; nor can they 
very well be mistaken in their diagnosis should they be 
troubled with nocturnal emissions, or experience the involun- 
tary escape of semen in large quantities during the day ; but 
nevertheless, such persons would find considerable difficulty 
in curing the former, or preventing the occurrence of the 
latter. Indeed, although scarcely any diseases are more easy 
of diagnosis than those treated of in this volume (at least ex- 
cept in some of the more difficult and subtle forms, as, for 
example, when the semen escapes with the urine), yet the 
treatment requires perhaps more skill and experience than any 
other derangement to which the physical organization is sub- 
ject. These are affections in which the treatment must not 
be limited to the remedies employed in the practice of one 
country, or contained in the Pharmacopoeia of another. The 
cases are so desperate, and the remedies required so potent, 
that all lands must be ransacked for the latter. Here we 

* Extracted from the Author's Diseases And Infirmities of Youth, 3d ed. 
New York, 1854. 



REMARKS. 115 

must not confine ourselves to the vegetable kingdom, or seek 
to obtain antidotes exclusively from the animal or mineral 
domain ; nature in her totality must be ransacked here. The 
advice given by a poet in relation to truth must here be fol- 
lowed, when applied to remedial agents : 

11 Seize upon truth where'er 'tis found, 
Among your friends, among your foes, 
On Christian or on heathen ground, 

The flower 's divine, where'er it grows : 
Avoid the nettle, and accept the rose." 

So must we seize upon good remedies for cases of this kind 
where'er they are found. 

Now this, I need scarcely say, is not done by the major 
part of those who treat these diseases. They are content 
with the ordinary routine of treatment, no matter how often 
it has been " weighed in the balance " and " found wanting," 
and the result is what you would expect — the disorders are 
very rarely cured. Indeed, how American and English prac- 
titioners can, with their limited Pharmacopoeias, treat dis- 
eases of this kind is to me a mystery. There are, really and 
strictly speaking, few remedies in either the United States or 
English Pharmacopoeias which can be relied upon in these 
complaints. What can be employed successfully for the 
purpose of thoroughly eradicating syphilis from the consti- 
tion ? and what to restore the system to health in the debility 
occasioned by self-abuse ? or what to stop the Spematorrhcea, 
the cause of that debility ? The answer, doubtless, is ready 
— Mercury for the former, tonics for the latter. To which I 
reply — In the first place, I deny that mercury will have any 
such effect ; and, secondly, if it had, it would only be at the 
expense of the future health ;* and as to the tonics — more 
particularly the ordinary tonics of American or English prac- 
tice — these will have no such result, for they cannot stop the 

* In the vast majority of cases so treated, " Mercury is not an absolute 
specific : in some cases it is inert, and in others it is injurious." — Ricord. 
Hence, we see that it is by no means a certain or reliable remedy, which is 
all I am contending for. The Veratrum Viride, however, judiciously cmn- 
bined and prescribed, I aver is a Positive Remedy. 



116 REMARKS. 

escape of semen in a bad case of Spermatorrhoea. The fol- 
lowing case will serve as an illustration : — 

A. B., a gentleman of property, applied to me, stating that 
he had for years been afflicted with nocturnal emissions, and 
that, for the last few months, he had been totally unable to 
cohabit with his wife. He had been the round of medical 
men, but without any beneficial result. He had taken Qui- 
nine, Iron, and the vegetable bitters in surprising quantities ; 
in fact, he thought he had taken everything in the list of 
Materia Medica, and, consequently, he completely despaired 
of ever being cured. As a last resource, however, he came 
to me. I supplied him with a mixture and lotion, which I 
usually employ in cases of a character analogous to his. On 
taking the bottles into his hand, I observed a smile pass 
over his countenance, and on inquiring the cause, he remark- 
ed that he fancied his system was already impregnated pretty 
strongly with what I had given him, as he had taken every- 
thing. I replied that I was quite sure he had neither 
taken the mixture nor employed the lotion that I gave him. 
He seemed doubtful, aud I offered to convince him by writing 
a prescription after the manner of American physicians, con- 
taining the drugs I had employed, and allowing him to get it 
made up at any druggist's he might select. I took this 
course for the double purpose of convincing him that my med- 
icines were neither employed by our medical men here, nor 
to be obtained in this country, and also to show him that, 
notwithstanding that fact, I did not wish to pretend to give 
secret remedies. The prescription was as follows : 

R Elixir. Acid. Haller. gss. 
Aqua Laurocerasi gij. 
Ft. Mist. 

R Spirit. Formic, gij. 
Liq. Anodyn. Hofm. 
Bals. vit. Hoftn.'a a §ss. 
Aqua Meath. pip. 

Scrpyll. a a giij. 

Ft. Lotio. 



REMARKS. 



in 



He took it away with him, and promised to let me know 
the result. In three weeks after, he called upon me again, 
and declared himself quite satisfied that my medicines 
could not be obtained in America, as he had sent the pre- 
scription to some of the first druggists in New York, and 
none of them appeared to have heard of the drug therein 
prescribed, and also informed me, what was more satisfactory 
for me to hear, that he had completely recovered. 

Now this one example is as good as a hundred. The first 
ingredient in the lotion is a spirit made from ants, and is one 
of the most effectual remedies, applied externally to the gen- 
erative organs, that is known in any part of the world, and 
yet no one in America uses it but myself. 

The British Pharmacopoeia, also, is exceedingly limited 
in remedies of this kind, and no man can treat these cases 
successfully, who has not other medicines than those contain- 
ed in it. 

My treatment is not a repetition, it will be perceived, of 
the ordinary routine of practice, as the reader can convince 
himself, by taking the same course with the prescription 
given that the gentleman referred to in the case just men- 
tioned pursued. I employ the best remedies from all the 
Pharmacopoeias in the world, and many which I have dis- 
covered and prepare in my own laboratory, and which are 
contained in no Pharmacopoeia. I have, therefore, in these 
few remarks, I think, justified the heading I adopted for this 
chapter, and established a claim to a peculiar treatment. 

Such is, in general terms, the reformed or Eclectic* sys- 



* The term Eclectic is derived from the Greek {ekIextmos ; e£ and 
Xevco, to choose) and signifies to select. It is a word we find applied to 
certain ancient philosophers, who did not attach themselves to any particular 
sect, but selected from the opinions and principles of each what they thought 
solid and good ; they were, in consequence, called Eclectic Philosophers. Its 
application to medicine also dates back to the earliest ages. The celebrity of 
Archigenes, an ancient physician, arose from the fact that he selected from 
other modes of practice what he deemed best and most rational ; hence he 
and his followers were called Eclectics, and their medicines Eclectic medicines. 



118 REMARKS. 

tern of treating diseases, as understood and expounded by 
enlightened teachers of the Healing Art ; but which is never 
to be confounded, however, with the vulgar root-and-herb, 
or exclusively " botanic practice/' with its ignorant, bigoted, 
narrow-minded and jealous pretenders to the sublime science 
of medicine ! 



Professor Raffinesque, speaking of Eclectics, says, " They are liberal and 
modest, learned or well-informed, neither intolerant nor deceitful, and ready 
to learn or impart information. They study nature and the human frame, 
write their observations, and improve medical knowledge ; they select and 
adopt in practice whatever is found most beneficial, and change their prescrip- 
tions according to emergencies, circumstances, and acquired knowledge." 



FALSE DELICACY. 



Eine halbe Wahrheit ist gewohnlich gefakrlicker als eine ganze Luge.* 



I cannot, perhaps, do better, in commencing a work of this 
kind, than to quote an admirable extract from the Quarterly 
Review for 1848, as it is most appropriate for the subject 
" It is time," says the writer, " to burst through that artifi- 
cial bashfulness, which has injured the growth, while it has 
affected the features of genuine purity. Society has suffered 
enough from that spurious modesty, which lets fearful forms 
of vice swell to a rank luxuriance, rather than point at their 
existence ; which coyly turns away its head from the wounds 
aud putrefying sores that are eating into our system, because 
it would have to blush at the exposure." This passage de- 
serves to be written in letters of gold. There are still 
hundreds and thousands of persons who entertain the senti- 
ments here so justly and so powerfully condemned. A fool- 
ish feeling of false delicacy is still prevalent, exercising what 
influence it possesses, to keep the human family in ignorance 
upon topics of the greatest importance to their own well- 
being. There exists very extensively a spurious bashfulness, 
having no relation whatever with that genuine modesty, 
which is one of the graces of a female, and which even the 
harder and rougher nature of the male should not be desti- 
tute of; this it is that would frown down the discussion of 
subjects of this kind, regardless of all consequences. Though 

* A half truth is generally more dangerous than a whole falsehood. 



120 FALSE DELICACY. 

the fountain of life may be drained of its vitality — though 
disease in ten thousand shapes rack the body, and melancholy 
despondency take sole possession of the mind — though death 
lays low in the tomb the fairest portion of God's creatures, 
and the parent mourns over his only child, as he sees him 
fast pining and wasting away, losing all that buoyancy and 
energy which he was wont to display in earlier days, and ul- 
timately hastening, prematurely, to that " bourne from whence 
no traveller returns " — though these consequences, and others 
equally as formidable, and too numerous to mention at this 
stage of our proceedings, flow necessarily from that monster 
vice of the present age, to which it is my object to draw your 
attention in this chapter — still, fashionable society would 
frown down any allusion to so delicate a subject ; fashion, 
which has no objection to vice of the most hideous kind be- 
ing fostered and nourished by her own devotees, so long as it 
is not mentioned in society. She seems to view subjects of 
this kind in some such light as the members of secret frater- 
nities look upon their passwords ; though each knows that 
the other is in possession of the secret as well as himself, yet 
he may not speak the mystic word above a whisper, or write 
it, even in hieroglyphics, upon a piece of paper. So with 
fashion ; though each of the gay and thoughtless throng who 
worship at her shrine knows that every other individual is 
aware of the existence of this vice, and, may be, large num- 
bers practising it in consequence of their ignorance of its 
consequences, yet it may not be named either by word of 
mouth, or by the printing press, or a hue and cry of indeli- 
cacy, indecency, and obscenity is heard above every other 
sound. To discuss this question thoroughly, it would require 
definitions to be given of what constitutes true delicacy, and 
what, therefore, might be justly considered a violation of her 
laws ; but that would take up much more space than I have 
to devote to the subject, or perhaps more time than you 
would spare to read what I should write : suffice it to say, 



FALSE DELICACY. 121 

that nature is a much better guide in matters of this kind 
than art ; yet the whole of the objections raised against these 
subjects being publicly talked of, or pictured in models, are 
drawn, not from the natural, but from the artificial, and even 
that artificial not genuine, but spurious. I disapprove, says 
an objector, of my daughters knowing any thing of vaginas, 
fallopian tubes, ovaries, and et ceteras, which go to make up 
the total of the female internal organs. Why does not such 
an individual object to his daughter knowing that she has a 
stomach, or a liver, or lungs ? Can any reason be shown 
why she should know the one, which would not equally apply 
to the other ? Certainly not ; and therefore such an objec- 
tion cannot be viewed as being valid, unless all knowledge of 
physiology be prohibited, as in fact it is by some. The hor- 
rors of tight lacing, and other evils of that kind, are, how- 
ever, now opening the eyes of fathers to the importance of 
physiology as a branch of female education ; and if the 
physiology of the stomach or the heart be tolerated, why not 
that of the generative organs ? But again, it is assumed 
that if the female be not informed by her teachers of subjects 
connected with the organs of generation, that she will remain 
in perfect and blissful ignorance of every thing of the kind. 
Let no parent, however, entertain so delusive an idea ; de- 
pend upon it, the voice of nature is more powerful than your 
silence, and will give such impulses that will lead to a search 
for information from any source where it can be obtained. 
That source, if left to present itself by chance or accident, 
will, in all probability, be a bad one, and therefore the very 
means, not only of instilling incorrect notions into the mind, 
but also of considerably corrupting the moral faculties, gov- 
erned by so imperfect and uninformed, or misinformed a 
judgment. How often have I, when called upon to adminis- 
ter medically to the diseases of youthful imprudence in the 
female sex, found them with their heads full of the trash of 
Aristotle ; or, what is much worse, the filthy obscene pro- 
6 



122 FALSE DELICACY. 

ductions which there are always found persons base enough 
to write. Men may console themselves with the idea that 
their daughters are totally ignorant of every thing that 
would be likely to lead them astray, and, as far as true and 
correct knowledge is concerned, they may be correct, but 
woefully mistaken as to false knowledge. Nature reminds 
the young female, rising to puberty, that she has a mission 
in womanhood, a destiny in the peculiarity of her sex ; and 
in obedience to the instincts thus implanted, she will seek for 
knowledge as to the nature of that mission and that destiny. 
Do not let her obtain that knowledge from pure sources, and 
the result is inevitable, she will obtain it from impure. But 
I am digressing. 

To return, therefore, to our subject. The objection to 
saying any thing to young men on the vices to which these 
pages are devoted, more particularly that of self-abuse, is, 
that by so doing, you may be teaching it to those who may 
not be aware of its existence. Now this objection, although 
urged again and again by men of high standing — and urged 
with great gravity too — if it were not upon so serious a 
topic, is certainly admirably adapted to excite the risible fac- 
ulties, for it is really supremely ludicrous. Tell not your son 
that a robbery was committed in your neighbour's house, or 
he too may become a robber : let him not know that a mur- 
der was perpetrated in some secluded spot near your resi- 
dence, or he will not, as is generally imagined, fear that he 
should become the victim : no, he will become a murderer 
too ! Inform him not that some desperate and desponding 
man deprived himself of life, or he too may die by suicide ! 
Is not such teaching the quintessence of absurdity ? Yet such 
arguments are more reasonable when applied to theft, mur- 
der, or suicide, than when directed to the vice of self-abuse. 

Now, if what is here set down be true — alas ! it is — let my 
greatest glory, pride and honest boast, consist in sending 
forth this book throughout the length and breadth of every 
land where the English tongue is understood. Asking for 



FALSE DELICACY. 123 

no profit from the sale thereof, I issue it at such a price as 
hinders not the poorest from its possession, and with such 
care in the general execution, as befits it for the perusal of the 
most educated and refined. Looking with calmness in the 
face of those who ungenerously sneer at my efforts to re- 
generate and lift up the unfortunate, I not only tell them 
plainly to do in like manner as myself, but charge them in 
the name of a higher power than man, that they use the 
means which their abilities may give them to arrest the pro- 
gress of the vices and excesses which they well know are luriDg 
victims innumerable to destruction, and whose blood may 
haply be required at the hands of those who have been crimi- 
nally silent when they should have spoken out ; who have 
hesitated when they should have denounced with pen and 
voice. 

But for myself, my cry shall be against them day by day ; 
these pages shall witness for me that I have fulfilled my duty 
in making known to this generation the exceeding evil of its 
besetting sins. And let every professional man likewise, being 
fearless of this offense, warn ail his youthful patients of their 
danger in these matters ; and so shall America again, as in 
days of yore, have men of mind and vigor to sustain her 
early fame in her hour of peril ; to relieve her in her time 
of mental and physical prostration and senility. 

Now that a salutary alarm has been raised by me in the 
consciences of the votaries of secret vice, they daily write to 
me for help, confessing that their mental energies are gone, 
and that their bodily powers are failing them — that their 
memories of the past are fading — that current circumstances 
now flit along, and leave behind no impress of their passage — 
that they are dead alike to business and to pleasure — that to 
themselves they are a burden, whilst to the world they are an 
incumbrance — that to all around they are as dead, that to 
themselves they are worse than dead ! This is the portion of 
the onanist on earth ; what it is in eternity I leave to another 
profession to point out, for here my mission ends. 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 



It is the author's desire to treat upon Spermatorrhea in 
such a manner, that those who are afflicted with the disease 
may learn how to distinguish it from other diseases which 
bear more or less resemblance to it — Gleet, particularly — and 
to induce young men, if possible, to shun the cause to which 
this complaint commonly owes its origin, namely, to Mastur- 
bation. 

This subject being, then, one of such vast importance to 
the rising generation, especially, and one which has been so 
long and habitually neglected or despised by medical men, 
and turned over to the tender mercies of ignorant charlatan- 
ism — with its miserable delusions and snares to entrap the 
unwary, in the shape of instruments, cauterization, mercury, 
and " specifics " innumerable, and worthless as they are dan- 
gerous — I have come to the conclusion to embrace the pres- 
ent opportunity, afforded by a comparatively recent happy 
discovery of mine — the Medicated Bougie * — and throw 
aside all thoughts of self, for the purpose of giving my four 
years' experience in connection with that discovery or in- 
vention, and the Veratrum Yiride, Iodine, &c, &c, freely, 
for the benefit of the victims of the most terrible affliction 

* A Decided Improvement. — " Dr. C. D. Hammond's admirable and novel 
mode of eradicating, promptly and effectually, by means of the l Medicated 
Bougie,' the sad results of a destructive habit indulged in by youths and 
young men to such a deplorable extent, is a remarkable and decided improve- 
ment, as it entirely supersedes cauterization, which is both a very painful 
and very uncertain remedy, to say the least of it. Dr. H. is a gentleman 
and a thoroughly practical physician and surgeon, of great experience and 
skill, whose superior professional advantages have rendered him, unquestion- 
ably, the most successful practitioner in his line." — Syracuse Medical and 
Surgical Journal. 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 125 

with which so many unfortunate persons are scourged, 
through ignorance of the means adapted to their relief, or ade- 
quate to their full restoration to Health and the pleasures of 
life. 

To those who are afflicted with any of the various forms 
of Seminal Disease — especially with Spermatorrhoea, Impo- 
tence, &c, — be they young men or old, the author would 
observe that these complaints may be radically, permanently, 
and with every degree of satisfaction to the patient, cubed, 
either with or without the use of the Medicated Bougie, 
which improvement, however, greatly expedites the cure — a 
consideration frequently of no little importance to many. 
The writer's practice in this line being unusually large, he is 
constantly meeting with some of the worst cases of this class ; 
while in no instance has the method pursued by him disap- 
pointed his most sanguine expectations thus far. 

It should be here distinctly stated for the reader's informa- 
tion, that Spermatorrhoea, and all other seminal diseases, may 
be successfully treated by two distinct methods, to wit : Con- 
stitutional or medicinal, and Local or medico-mechanical : 
the former by properly selected and judiciously administered 
medicines internally, through the medium of the stomach, 
and the latter by the aid of suitable direct medication applied 
through the medium of the Medicated Bougie. But, in point 
of time, the medico-mechanical method, conjoined with the 
constitutional treatment, is immeasurably superior to the 
exclusively medicinal plan ; for, by the aid of direct medica- 
tion, the cure may generally be effect ed in less than one-half 
the time required by the first-mentioned process. It should, 
therefore, be understood, that while I give the decided prefer- 
ence to a wise combination of these two methods, I do not, 
for a single instant, deny that these diseases can be effectually 
cured by either plan — indeed, more than half my cases are 
cured by medicine alone. Nevertheless, in all cases where a 
prompt cure is desired, the employment of direct medication 



126 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 

possesses not only immense advantages, but it becomes indis- 
pensable. Both methods being, then, alike certain and radi- 
cal in their action, the choice of means on the part of the 
patient will be governed by circumstances. 

To rely, however, in these affections, exclusively on purely 
mechanical appliances, of any kind, or upon any one " spe- 
cific " medicine, or set of specific medicines, without due 
regard to the constitutional or individual circumstances of 
each and every case, simply argues one of the many palpable 
absurdities of which the practice of charlatanism is, unfor- 
tunately for its deluded victims, so terribly prolific. The 
cerebellum and spinal nerves are deeply involved in all semi 
nal complaints, aud any mode of treatment which neglects 
these delicate parts, must necessarily fail to afford satisfactory 
relief in any case whatever. And, while the constitutional 
means which I employ, are of a benign and rather agreeable 
character — being both gelatinized and confectioned, so as to 
enable the patient to carry them about upon his person with- 
out any inconvenience, either on account of taste, smell, or 
appearance of the medicine — the local medication employed 
by me is almost entirely devoid of pain, or other disagreeable 
concomitants. The Medicated Bougie is also applicable in 
paralysis of the neck of the bladder, enlarged prostate, &c, 
in which diseases it has been used with the happiest result. 

The author's Theory and Treatment of Spermatorrhoea 
are at once scientific and plain, and may be understood by all 
at a glance. They are based on the fact, amply substantiated 
by a long series of cases, extending over four years of active 
practice, that this complaint, nine times in ten, is not (as Lal- 
lemand at one time supposed) the result of inflammation of 
the seminal ducts, but of weakness or a loss of vitality in the 
Nervous Circulation * of those ducts ; hence the proper 
treatment consists, not in cauterizing or burning the said 
ducts (LallemancVs method), but in restoring the impaired or 
lost vitality to the parts in question. 

* See Chapter on the Treatment of Impotence. 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 12 ? 

To attain this important object, the author was induced, in 
the year 1854, to seek some expeditious, certain and safe 
method, and with highly flattering results ; for, by the judi- 
cious use of his Medicated Bougie — a discovery, it is proper 
to mention, entirely his own — he has demonstrated, in a very 
large number of cases, consisting of several hundred, many 
of which were of an inveterate character, that Spermatorrhoea, 
etc., can be relieved with entire safety to the sexual organs and 
the constitution, without pain, and in less than one-half the 
lime required by any other method extant. 

Even in those cases where cauterization seems to be more 
or less beneficial, it should be observed that the benefit is 
merely temporary and delusive, inasmuch as the caustic can 
only produce a transient, stimulating effect, which soon pass- 
es off, greatly to the annoyance of the patient, who again and 
again has recourse to cauterization, " cordials," &c, whereby 
the tone of the ducts is soon worn out — hopelessly and forever ; 
whereas, by the author's method, not only are the seminal ducts, 
&c, revitalized and vigorously strengthened, but the brain 
and whole nervous system are reinvigorated ; whence it comes 
that the cure is radical, and permanently satisfactory to the 
patient. These are important practical facts, and should not 
be lightly passed upon or thoughtlessly heeded. 

The original method which is here referred to, consists in 
conveying to the seminal ducts, by means of the Medicated 
Bougie, an amount of direct medication adequate to the 
prompt and perfect restoration of the local vitality upon 
which the healthy and vigorous action of the ducts depends ; 
while the constitutional medication administered to the brain 
and spinal nerves, completes the cure. The success of this 
novel method of treating seminal diseases has been so uni- 
formly flattering, that the author has deemed it proper to 
make it now known to the public. 

As just mentioned, in about ten per cent, only of the cases 
of spermatorrhoea, let it be admitted, for argument-sake, that 



128 PKELIMINARY CHAPTER. 

the disease may depend upon chronic inflammation of the 
seminal ducts ; and that in thia number alone is Lallemand's 
method by cauterization applicable, namely, that of passing 
along the urethra, to the locality of the orifices of the ducts near 
the neck of the bladder, lunar caustic, and applying it to 
and burning those orifices, by means of a metallic curved 
caustic holder. If this delicate coup de main be accomplished 
with precision, which requires perfect anatomical knowledge, 
and great manipulating skill, such as only a Lallemand — a 
surgeon of extraordinary mechanical dexterity — is generally 
apt to possess, a painful* transient cure, will, perhaps, be ef- 
fected ; though it by no means follows that because the nitrate 
of silver occasionally cures inflammation of the external mem- 
branes of the eye, it will also cure the (assumed) inflammation 
of the lining membrane of the seminal du.cts ; and the reason 
of this is, because the surgeon can see why and where he ap- 
plies the caustic in the former instance, whereas he can only 
feel (or guess) why and where he applies it in the latter case ; 
besides, we can only cauterize the orifices of the seminal ducts, 
even if lucky enough to touch them, while at the same time 
admitting the inflammation (if any there be) is located along 
the interior of those very elongated and minute canals, 
throughout their entire length, which, the reader will remember, 
is several feet ; see page 136, on which is given the length of 
the seminal vessels, as calculated by competent anatomists. 
This latter fact is of immense importance in illustrating the 
entire superiority which the Medicated Bougie possesses over 
the caustic ; as it is well known that certain medicines are so 
subtile and elastic in their action, that they readily permeate 
all animal tissues, throughout their length and breadth, even 
those the most dense, by Capillary Absorption. But (turn- 
ing from this digression) in the remaining ninety cases, the 
cause of the disease, as has been stated, is not inflammation 



* Which pain, he admits, lasts about u two weeJcs." 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 129 

of the ducts at all ; but is that which we have mentioned, 
namely, a loss of vitality in the nerve 'power of those ducts, 
<fec, &c. 

Lallemand, being a man of sense as well as science, has not 
failed candidly to admit, as was his duty, that cauterization is 
applicable in but a very small number of instances ; as well 
as to insist, also, upon the danger resulting even in the small 
number of cases in which his method is supposed to be ser- 
viceable, from absence of knowledge and skill on the part of 
those persons who undertake to apply caustic to the seminal 
ducts. What, then, must be the amount of mischief done by 
the medical mountebanks to be found in all large cities and 
towns, who hesitate not to attempt to cauterize, indiscrimi- 
nately, these ducts " without pain! 1 in all cases of involuntary 
seminal emissions, impotence, and the like ! 

Cauterization, thus recklessly and bunglingly applied, as is 
almost always, if not always the case, has, in thousands of in- 
stances, laid the foundation of a most distressing disease — 
incontinence of urine of a permanent character — consequent 
upon irritation at the neck of the bladder ; without mention- 
ing enlargement of the testicles and prostate gland, spasmodic 
stricture, etc., which, from this cause, are of common occur- 
rence. 

These are not mere idle assertions, as the reader may see 
by looking into the works of scientific (practical) venereal 
surgeons generally — Bohn, and others. 

On the absurd treatment by cauterization of the orifices of 
the seminal ducts, for the cure or even amelioration of sper- 
matorrhoea, — a mode of treatment which, I may mention 
here, I have, in my former works, combatted against for 
years, alone and single-handed — Grindle, in 1858, aptly 
remarks : — 

"Lallemand of France is the only author we shall notice upon 
the treatment by instruments of the diseases under consideration. 
Though we differ from him in some things, it would be egotistical to 

6* 



130 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 

pass him by in silence ; as his researches and experience deserve our 
respect ; not so many other authors, who may be consigned to well- 
merited oblivion with a passing remark, that nothing original occurs 
in their writings, siruply because study and practical investigation 
have never been their object, and bigoted fanaticism takes the place 
of study and philosophy, whilst outbursts against more successful 
contemporaries, stand vividly forward as substitutes for sound, ration- 
al theory, and well-based practice. 

" Lallemand says (and truly, too), that 'some affection of the or- 
gans for the secretion and excretion of the semen is the most frequent 
and most active cause of Spermatorrhoea.' It is worthy of notice 
that this very statement furnishes one of the best arguments against 
his mode of treatment, as I will hereafter point out ; and in another 
page of his work he states with equal veracity that this malady is by 
no means, in all cases, of a moral nature, but very generally the con- 
sequence of peculiar bodily conditions ; yet because the application 
of caustic over the vessels of the eye, is of service in some instances, 
he concluded that a similar process to the outlet of the ducts must en- 
sure an equally favorable result ; so the ' Porte Causttqce ' was in- 
vented — an instrument like a catheter, made of silver, and armed at 
its termination with a piece of lunar caustic, to be passed into the 
urinary canal of all persons, regardless of what condition the system 
or local parts might be in. It became that detestable thing, " a fash- 
ionable remedy/' and was blindly thrust down the urethras of the 
unfortunate victims, to cauterize, sometimes one part, sometimes 
another, of the urinary tube, occasionally and but seldom coming in 
contact with the outlet of the ducts, and when it did, causing much 
suffering and doing no good, — because, 

" First. If the cause of the disease be only locally situated at or near 
the mouth of the outlet, it must be cruel and unnecessary ; but, as 
has been fully demonstrated, over and over again, by distinguished 
anatomists, such is not the case. 

" Second. If it be seated at a distance, reflected irritation and in- 
creased inflammation alone can result, for the ducts in question are 
the termination of the vas deferens, and the vas deferens itself is only 
the outlet of convoluted tubes composing the body of the testes and 
epididymis, and exceeding, altogether, twenty feet in length ; and the 
attempt to remove an obstruction in one of the numberless rivulets 
which help to form a stream, by blocking up the mouth of a mighty 
river, would be as likely to succeed. 

" The author and disciples of the Porte Caustique differ much from 
each other, as well as from then- opponents, as to the amount of pain 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 131 

and length of suffering which this so-called remedy occasions ; and 
this fact incontestably points out that the escharotic is used in differ- 
ent conditions of the urethra, and applied to parts of the canal 
where the outlets are not : these small openings, like other orifices of 
the secretive glands, are composed of erectile tissue with a trace of 
muscular fibre, which enables them to remain closed and quiescent, 
or erect and open, so that the cleverest operator cannot ensure the 
positive contact of his instrument exactly where he requires it to 
touch, above once in a hundred times ; and if, happily, difficult now, 
it would be still more fortunate for humanity if the feat were impos- 
sible ; for an agony of pain, followed by violent inflammation of 
some ten or fourteen days' continuance, accompanied by a flow of 
blood with the urine, and occasional painful erections without any 
improvement, are the mildest symptoms and slightest annoyances to 
which the patient is subjected ; whilst long continued strangury, irri- 
table and inflamed bladder, and stricture, are always risked ; and 
when a tendency to any of these complaints, or to prostatic disease, 
chances to be present, will lead on to still more serious maladies, such 
as acute and chronic abscess, ulceration, or even mortification, and 
fatal haemorrhage ; and yet, with these authentical facts before us, we 
are told by the advocates of this instrument, that a second applica- 
tion is frequently required ! When the Porte Caustique exactly 
reaches its intended destination, and is quickly withdrawn, permanent 
induration of the outlets, or loss of tone in their erectile tissue, are 
common results. One of the most celebrated physicians of the pres- 
ent day bears testimony to the suffering, danger, and mischief, he has 
himself witnessed in victims to the use of this dangerous agent. 

" Various other so-called remedies of a caustic and irritant nature 
have been recommended for introduction into the urinary passage, but 
it may be said of them all, that if they were less escharotic in their 
action, they would be less baneful in effect ; still, more or less mischief 
might result from their use, and little benefit arise from such harsh 
applications." 

Again, " an attempt to compress the walls of the urethral passage, 
by means of a mechanical adaptation to the penis, does not want ad- 
vocates at the present day. Surely absurdity can reach no greater 
length. The invention is just worthy a school-boy suffering from in- 
continence of urine ; the semen flowing as usual into the passage is, 
by force, prevented from passing away until the instrument is 
removed, when the semen and urine are ejected together, and the suf- 
ferer, perhaps, is beguiled into the idea of amendment, because he 
does not see the semen escaping, as he did previous to this treat- 
ment." 



132 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 

Cauterization, then, of the seminal ducts, by means of Lal- 
lemand's caustic holder, or by the use of caustic injections 
with an elongated syringe, as resorted to by certain persons, 
should seldom or never be employed for the cure of this dis- 
ease — by reason of the danger (fatal in some instances) , pain- 
fulness and inefficacy of the same. The author undertakes to 
cure all curable cases presented to him, without the use of a 
particle of caustic. 

Involuntary seminal emissions, whether nocturnal or diur- 
nal, constitute a prevalent and very terrible disease among 
young men and others, consequent upon Masturbation, or 
" self-abuse" excesses, or the debilitating effects of climate ; 
being one of the most appalling complaints, perhaps, with 
which its victims are or can be afflicted. The author's atten- 
tion has, therefore, necessarily been closely confined to the 
treatment of Spermatorrhoea, and the other different forms 
of seminal weakness or disease, now for a long term of years ; 
and, as the proper treatment is evidently so little understood, 
he has thought proper to give it in mil in this work. 

Those, then, who are unfortunately emaciated, and who 
labor under a continual drain from the system, whereby their 
bodily strength is not only exhausted, but also their mental 
vigor and vivacity are impaired, — thus preventing their en- 
tering the marriage state, — will meet with a friendly monitor 
in this valuable publication. 

What can be of more importance to patients, than to make 
themselves intimately acquainted with every symptom to 
which many of the young, more especially, are liable ; how to 
conduct themselves under all circumstances, without having 
their delicacy wounded by a disclosure of their fears or ap- 
prehensions to the rude scrutiny of pretended " friends " ? 
Under such circumstances, the only second person in whom 
we can judiciously confide, is the respectable and honorable 
surgeon ; he never forgets that his profession, of nearly all 
others, is a truly sacred one, the secrets of which must never, 
uncler any circumstances whatever, be divulged. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 

Before we proceed to explain the Abuses to which the or- 
gans of generation are liable, it will, for the sake of rendering 
the subject more easy of comprehension to the non-profession- 
al reader, be necessary to give a brief sketch of the anatomy 
and physiology of the organs themselves ; in other words, to 
explain the healthy state of these parts, before we attempt to 
enter upon their diseased conditions ; and, indeed, this is, 
after all, the true and only satisfactory mode. These organs 
include the testes, and a variety of other parts directly or in- 
directly connected with them, each of which we will treat re- 
spectively. 

I. — Tlie testes and their coverings. — The testes, or, as they 
are more commonly called, the testicles (Fig. I., C), are two 
small glands, of an ovoid form, each weighing about an 
ounce, and measuring in the long diameter from one-and-a- 
half to two inches, and in the short about an inch. The left 
hangs down a little lower than the right, probably for the 
purpose of avoiding the pressure of one against the other, if 
the thighs are brought close together. The testes are sur- 
rounded by five coverings, on each of which I shall say a few 
words, commencing with the most external, and proceeding 
internally. The coverings are called — 1, the scrotum ; 2, the 
dart os ; 3, the cremaster muscle ; 4, the fibrous tunic ; and 
5, the tunica vaginalis. 

1. — The Integuments form a purse-like envelope of both 
testes, called the scrotum, which is short and corrugated in 
healthy, robust persons, but is much more lax and flaccid in 



134 THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 

disease. Temperature has also a considerable effect upon it, 
being much more contracted in cold than in warm weather ; 
the skin of the scrotum is exceedingly delicate, and of a dark- 
ish color ; is thrown into several folds or rugae, and has a 
slightly elevated ridge or raphe in the middle line, extending 
from the penis to the anus. 2. — The Dartos is the cellular 
tissue — of a peculiar texture — placed immediately under the 
skin, and so arranged as to form two bags, one for each testi- 
cle, and both united along the median line, forming a partition 
called septum scroti. The texture of the dartos is very loose, 
and readily becomes distended in disease ; it corrugates the 
skin, and assists in moving the testes. 3. — The Cremaster 
Muscle (Fig. I., W.) consists of a bundle of fleshy fibres, de- 
scending through the inguinal canal on either side ; its use 
appears to be, to draw up the testicle. 4. — The Fibrous Tu- 
nic is a strong, thin transparent membrane, of a shining 
white color, supporting the cremaster muscle, and forming a 
bag for each testicle. 5. — The Tunica Vaginalis is a dense 
membranous sac, of a bluish- white color, in which the body 
of the testicle is contained : it was at one time — viz. in the 
foetal state — a process of peritoneum, but has been pushed 
before the testes, and thus prolonged as they descended from 
the abdomen to the scrotum. In addition to these invest- 
ments there is another, called the tunica albuginea, but as it 
forms the capsule of the testicle, and preserves its form, it 
may be treated as part of the organ, rather than a covering to 
it ; it is of a clear white color, and very dense ; it separates 
at the back part into two laminae, one of which is continued 
to the vas deferens, and the other, joining with a correspond- 
ing layer from the opposite side, is passed into the substance 
of the gland, and forms the mediastinum testis. The gland- 
ular structure of the testicle has the appearance of a soft, 
greyish or yellowish pulpy mass, formed of lobules : when 
these are examined more minutely, they are found to be 
made up of small convoluted tubes called tubuli seminiferi, 



THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



135 



or seminal ducts (Fig. L, D, E), rolled up in packets or 
bundles. 
The average diameter of these tubes appears to be about 

Fig. i. 




Fig. I. represents a back view of the male organs of generation — A, the 
bladder ; B, the spermatic artery, vein and nerve ; 0, the testicle ; D, E, the 
tubuli seminiferi ; F, G, H, the epididymis ; I, the ves deferens ; J, the ves- 
iculae seminales ; K, the prostate gland ; L, the urethra ; M,Cowper's glands ; 
N, the bulb of the urethra ; 0, the erector muscles ; P, Q, the veins and arte- 
ries of the penis, called dorsal ; R, the integument underneath the penis ; S, 
the glans penis ; T, the orifice ; U, the raphe, which joins the anus ; V, W, 
the Cremaster muscle ; Y, Z, the ureters. 



136 THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 

t! o or "2 P ar ^ °^ an * nc ^' ^ e ^ en o^ °f eacn sixteen feet, 
and the number not less than three hundred. Each tube 
commences in a closed extremity (or by anatomosing with 
another), near the inner surface of the fibrous covering of the 
testicle, and from that point progresses to the mediastinum 
testis ; as they approach this process, they become less con- 
voluted, and having passed through its fibres several coalesce, 
and terminate in about twenty larger and less convoluted ves- 
sels, which proceed in parallel lines towards the back part of 
the gland ; these are called vasa recta, or tubuli recti, they are 
situated amid the fibres of the tunica albuginia, in that part 
called the mediastinum ; of this they occupy the front part, 
the blood-vessels being behind. 

In brief, these tubuli empty the semen into two bodies 
termed the vesiculce seminales, or seminal reservoirs. Here 
it is that the semen is stored up, these tubes answering the 
purpose of reservoirs : each vesicula terminates, posteriorly, 
in a rounded cul-de-sac, and, anteriorly, unites with the vas 
deferens of the same side to form a common duct, called the 
ductus ejaculatorii. The seminal fluid undergoes a great 
change in the vesiculse seminales, to which I shall refer more 
fully in another part of the work. 

VI. — The Ductus Ejaculatorii are the common seminal 
conduits, resulting from the junction of the vas deferens and 
the vasicula on each side. Each is about an inch in length, 
and its calibre is greater and more dilateable than that of the 
vesiculae seminales. They are directed forwards, parallel to 
each other, pass through the prostate gland, and open into 
the urethra by two very small oblong apertures. 

VII. — The Prostate Gland (Fig. L, K) is a small body, 
about the size and shape of a chestnut, surrounding part of 
the neck of the bladder and the commencement of the ure- 
thra, measuring about an inch from before backwards, a little 
more from side to side, and about half an inch in thickness. 
It is traversed by the urethra, and also by the ductus ejacula- 



THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 137 

torrii ; the greater part of it, however, is situated below the 
urethra, and it therefore rests upon the rectum. It consists 
of three lobes, two placed laterally — one on either side — and 
the third between and behind the other two. It secretes a 
thin, white fluid, which is suppossd to be for the purpose of 
lubricating the urethra : its texture is peculiar, and is well 
known to possess, in a high degree, the property of elasticity, 
a fact which has been turned to considerable account in the 
operation of lithotomy. The prostate frequently becomes 
enlarged in old age. 

VIII. — Coicper's Glands (Fig. I., M) are two small bodies, 
about the size of peas, situated upon the membranous part of 
the urethra, near the bulb. Their existence is not invariable : 
sometimes they are absent, and sometimes there is but one : 
they are not peculiarly male, since they exist in the female, 
and are quite as large in one sex as in the other. Two small 
ducts, about three-quarters of an inch in length, issue from 
them, and passing obliquely inwards and forwards, enter the 
urethra. Their use is by no means clear. 

IX. — The Penis. — The penis is the organ in the male which 
corresponds to the clitoris in the female, and consists princi- 
pally of the corpus cavernosum, the corpus spongiosum, the 
urethra, and the integuments, on each of which a few words 
may not be uninteresting. The common integuments of the 
body cover the greater part of this organ, the skin on the 
pubis is prolonged over the penis, not however without some 
slight alteration in its character, as in the former position it 
is supported by a thick cushion of fatty matter, whereas in the 
latter there is an entire absence of fat, and the skin is also 
much thinner on the penis than in other parts of the body : at 
the extremity of the corpora cavernosa it continues forwards, 
forming a loose fold, termed the prepuce, or foreskin. The 
skin at the margin of the prepuce is continuous with the mu- 
cous membrane lining the inside, and then being reflected to 
cover the glans, at the base of which, by the orifice of the 



1 38 THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 

urethra, where it is continuous with the lining of that canal, 
it is thrown into a fold called the frsenum prseputii. The 
length of the prepuce differs much in different individuals ; 
underneath at its base, a foetid whitish substance is secreted, 
called smegna. The corpora cavernosa form about two- 
thirds of the entire volume of the penis, and determine its 
form : they are of the shape of longitudinal sections of cylin- 
drical tubes, and placed side by side, and blended together 
the greater part of their length, whilst at the rest they 
branch off into the two crura, and consequently present nearly 
the appearance of the letter Y, the upper part of which would 
be placed against the pubis, and the lower at the glans penis. 
The corpus cavernosum is situated at the upper part of the 
penis : its color is generally an opaque white, and its struc- 
ture a slightly elastic, dense fibrous membrane, traversed in 
many places by blood-vessels, which, being excited, give rise 
to the distension of the organ, called erection : the corpus 
cavernosum does not extend quite to the end of the penis, 
the glans not forming a part of it. The corpus spongiosum 
forms the lower part of the penis, and is analogus in its struc- 
ture to the corpus cavernosum. The urethra is situated 
partly in the groove formed by the union of the two corpora 
cavernosa, and the remaining part surrounded by the corpus 
spongiosum : it extends from the neck of the bladder to the 
extremity of the penis, and is in the male from eight to ten 
inches in length : it serves to convey the urine from the blad- 
der, and the seminal fluid from the vesicular seminales : it is 
divided into — a prostate portion, about an inch in length, and 
into which the ductus ejaculatorii, and the orifice of the mu- 
cous follicles of the prostate gland open — a membranous part, 
comprising the interval between the prostate and the bulb, 
also about an inch in length, and being the narrowest part 
of the canal — and a spongy or vascular portion, extending 
from the bulb (Fig. I., N) to the glans, and being about 
six or seven inches in length. At the end of this portion, 



THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 139 

viz., within the glans, there is a great dilatation of the canal 
called the fossa navicularis : it is this part that is generally 
affected in gonorrhoea, or, as it is vulgarly termed, clap. The 
glans penis (Fig. I., S) is a conical prominence forming the 
extremity of the penis, and presenting at its base a circular 
ridge called the corona glandis. 

Fig. II. 




Fig. II. — A drop of semen, in which the spermatozoa are sparingly con 
tained — a, spermatozoa ; b, seminal granules. 



This short sketch of the anatomy of the organs of genera- 
tion will enable the reader the better to understand what I 
shall now state, regarding their functions and abuses, and the 
diseases to which they are liable. 

The seminal fluid, I have already remarked, first makes its 
appearance in the testes, where it is elaborated from the 
blood, but is not perfectly formed there, as it undergoes other 
changes before it is ejected altogether out of the system. " It 
is one of those secretions," says Kirkes, " in which a process 
of development is continued after its formation in the secre- 
ting cells, and is discharged from them into tubes." It con- 



140 THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 

tains, when first secreted, granules and round corpuscles, but 
no trace of the peculiar bodies which afterwards make their 
appearance. Having, however, passed into the vesiculse 
seminales — taking the course I have already pointed out — 
here the great development is completed ; here small bodies 
Fig, in. make their appearance, which have been 
I called seminal filaments, or sometimes, from 
the idea that they were really living animals, 
and belonged to the entozoa, they have been 
termed spermatozoa (Fig. II., a). These 
are, no doubt, the essential elements of the 
I spermatic fluid ; they are exceedingly minute, 
1 measuring in the human semen not more 
than the -i_ or -.1- of an inch in length, 
and not more than the -^-i- of an inch in 
the diameter of the head, by far the largest 
part of the body ; they consist of a head or 
body, of a flattened elliptical form (Fig. 
III. a) ; from this head is given off a kind 
I of thread-like tail (Fig. III. b), by means of 
which the movements of the body are effected, 
and therefore this tail will be straight, or 
waved, accordingly to its position. 

Spermatozoa exist in the seminal fluid of 
almost all other animals except hybrids, in 
which they are either absent, or imperfectly 
developed, such animals being generally 
sterile. The shape of these small animal- 
culae varies in different animals : in most 
mammalia they are nearly of the same form 
as those of the human being, but generally 
larger, especially in the smallest animals ; 
e. g. in the rat they are, according to Wag- 
ner, about T ] ¥ of an inch in length ; in the 

Fig. III. — Spermatozoon magnified — a. head ; &, tail. 



THE MALE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 141 

dog and rabbit they have a pear-shaped body ; in the mouse 
the extremity of the body is bent upwards and backwards, 
like the point of the scalpel ; in the squirrel, the margin of 
the body is bent, or rolled up ; and in lizards, serpents, frogs, 
&c, they have a globular body, and a delicate caudal filament. 
The seminal fluid, in addition to the spermatozoa, is made 
up of two other elements ; these are — a fluid and seminal 
granules ; the latter are round bodies, granulated on the sur- 
face, and being in size about the ^Vo- of an inch in diameter 
(Fig. II., 6). The fluid part of the semen has not been ob- 
tained separate from the other components, and consequently 
its properties have not been ascertained. The whole together, 
form, as you are aware, a thick white or yellowish- white fluid, 
having a peculiar smell ; it speedily becomes more transpa- 
rent, when exposed to the air. From the nature of this 
fluid — from the purpose which it serves — and from the large 
quantity of blood brought down to the testes to form it, 
there can be no doubt whatever that its vitality is greater — 
much greater — than any other fluid in the body. 



CHAPTER III 



SELF-ABUSE. 



' What are the sun and stars to things like me ? 
I am a wretched mass of filth and misery ! 
Hide me, dark-throated caverns, — hide my form ! 
That lacks the signet and the power of man .'" 



Various terms have been employed to describe the habit 
of self-abuse ; most of them, however, to some extent are 
objectionable. The most common, perhaps, is Onanism, 
taken from the circumstance that the first instance we have 
on record of a perpetration of a crime of this kind is that of 
Onan, mentioned in Genesis. Every one, however, who reads 
the narrative carefully, must perceive that the crime of Onan 
was not exactly that which is now called after his name. 
Another term, and perhaps a more correct one, is Masturba- 
tion, derived from manus, the hand, and strapo, I defile. 
This can, however, be considered strictly correct only when 
applied to the procuring emissions by titillations of the virile 
member with the hand ; whereas it is used in a much more 
extended sense, signifying emission procured by any artificial 
means — any means, in fact, short of natural intercourse with 
the opposite sex.* Sometimes habits of this kind have been 
spoken of as Pollutions ; but this term is objectionable, as 
it confounds in many cases the cause with the effect. A 
pollution is merely an emission, and that may frequently arise 
from weakness or disease of these organs, caused, perhaps, by 

* See Essay 4, Part I. 



SELF-ABUSE. 143 

this vice, perhaps not, and even in the former case occurring 
long after the habit has been abandoned. The most express- 
ive term is that of se//-pollution, or self-abuse ; but as all the 
others named are commonly used and commonly understood, 
my objections to them are not sufficiently strong to prevent 
me from also employing them. 

The pernicious habit of Self- Abuse may be commenced 
very early in life, and may be, as has been already intimated, 
the result, either of teaching by associates or companions, or 
of chance or accidental circumstances. Few persons, except 
those who have had great experience in these matters, would 
for a moment guess that a habit of this kind could com- 
mence at the tender age that children are sometimes present- 
ed to our notice, suffering its dire and dismal consequences. 
Indeed it is almost impossible to say of any child that it is 
too young to practice it ; frequently it is commenced at three 
or four years of age, and sometimes much earlier : of course 
there can be no emission at so early a period, but gratifica- 
tion is found in producing friction upon the glans penis, and 
other parts adjacent to it ; and the habit is continued for the 
sake of this pleasurable sensation till an emission takes place, 
which occurs under such circumstances much earlier than 
otherwise. Even infants, a few months old, will acquire -the 
habit of playing with their genital parts, handling them, and 
moving them between their fingers, if not checked by their 
parents or nurse ; and there can be little doubt that such a 
trifling circumstance as this has, in hundreds of instances, 
given rise to this most degrading and pernicious vice. At 
three or four years of age, however, it is very common, and 
produces the most baneful consequences ; for, although there 
is not at that period the terrible debility consequent upon the 
loss of large quantities of the most vital fluid in the body, 
which we so frequently witness in the emaciated and broken- 
up constitutions of those more advanced in years, yet there is 
an undue excitement, which must give rise to a large number 



144 SELF-ABUSE. 

of the diseases " which flesh is heir to," more particularly of 
the brain and nervous system ; and there is also the dismal 
fact, that the habit commenced at this period will continue 
through life, unless some guardian angel arrests its course. 

The diseases which may arise from this habit, even when 
practiced before seminal fluid is found in the vesicles, and con- 
sequently before there can be any emission, are neither few 
nor small. The over-excited state of the nervous system 
which is produced, and the loss of nervous power which fol- 
lows it, may give rise to such a perturbation of the nervous 
system as to occasion death, which is evidenced by a case of 
Lallemand's, where death did occur, and which the Professor 
of Montpelier attributes to the effect produced on the brain 
by repeated convulsive shocks, similar to those which sus- 
ceptible subjects receive when the soles of their feet are 
tickled. When, however, this undue excitement, and its con- 
sequent depression, does not terminate in physical death, it 
does, in nine cases out of ten, in what may be justly consid- 
ered mental death, in the loss of all intellectual capabilities, 
and the establishment of idiocy. How numerous are the 
cases which I have myself seen of children at six or seven 
years of age, who had been their parents' pride and joy, sunk 
into a state of confirmed idiocy through this baneful practice ! 
Other evils, much too numerous to refer to individually, are 
also the common consequences of this habit, when com- 
menced at this early period. " However young the children 
may be," says the author just quoted, " they get thin, pale 
or irritable, and their features become haggard ; their sleep 
is short, and most complete marasmus comes on ; they may 
die, if this evil passion is not got the better of ; nervous 
symptoms set in, such as spasmodic contractions, or partial 
or entire convulsive movements, such as epilepsy, eclampsy, 
and a species of paralysis, accompanied with contractions of 
the limbs." 

Should, however, the habit be continued, and, in conse- 



SELF-ABUSE. 145 

quence of a strong constitution, none of these symptoms make 
their appearance during this youthful period, nature will re- 
ply to the call of the excitement, and semen will be emitted 
at a period much earlier than would otherwise occur. In 
such cases the sexual instinct manifests itself some time, per- 
haps many years, before the genital organs are in a fit condi- 
tion to secrete this fluid. As soon as there is an escape, the 
pleasure will be much greater than had before been experi- 
enced, and consequently the habit will become more confirm- 
ed ; the practice will be much more frequent, and, as a mat- 
ter of course, the chances of escape much less. Now, in ad- 
dition to the undue excitement, there will be a drain upon the 
system, in the loss of the most vital fluid in the body. The 
frequency with which this act will be repeated in the day, is 
enough to frighten the physician or physiologist as to the 
consequences ; but the youthful devotee, at the shrine of a 
more cruel deity than Moloch, fears no ill, because he knows 
not the danger — he sees not the precipice upon which he is 
standing, nor the vast chasm over which he is tottering. 

All cases of this kind, however, are not commenced at so 
early a period in life ; the habit is not discovered by many 
till the genital organs are in a condition to obey the call made 
upon them. Sometimes the first knowledge that a youth ob- 
tains of this practice is learned from his associates at school ; 
for large institutions, where a large number of boys are col- 
lected together, and more particularly where several sleep in 
the same room, are admirably adapted for the purpose of 
propagating a vice of this kind ; and there can be little 
doubt, that in many instances they are the very hot-beds of 
this vice. A circumstance occurred in a. large school near 
, a short time since, which will be fresh in your mem- 
ory, and which alone will serve to illustrate this point. At 
other times this habit is discovered by accident. Horse-rid- 
ing has in numerous cases given rise to it, by producing an 
agreeable feeling in the friction of the genitals upon the sad- 



146 SELF-ABUSE. 

die, or back of the horse : at other times it has been com- 
menced by rubbing the legs together, the penis being between 
them : and frequently by sleeping upon the abdomen. Some- 
times the cause which first gave rise to it may have been a 
derangement of the cerebellum — that part of the brain which 
presides over the functions of the sexual organs — and of the 
spinal nerves. 

All that I shall do further in this chapter, will be to no- 
tice very briefly that disease called Varicocele, or varicose 
veins in the testicle. Frequent and undue actions of an or- 
gan, no matter in what part of the body situated, will cause 
a greater flow of blood to that organ, and a change is conse- 
quently very likely to take place in the number and condition 
of the blood-vessels ; this is what occurs in the testes in vari- 
cocele. From the continual excitement and constant action 
of the parts, in the formation and emission of large quantities 
of seminal fluid, the veins become enormously distended, and 
apparently more numerous, and their coats thickened ; the 
scrotum generally becomes elongated on the affected side, 
more frequently the left, but sometimes both ; the folds disap- 
pear, and the whole organ hangs down in a pendulous state ; 
sometimes the testicle wastes entirely away, and, as a matter 
of course, impotence, in many cases incurable, is the result. 
I was consulted, a short time since, on a case of this kind by 

a young man, the son of a clergyman of high standing 

, whose pale and haggard appearance, together with 

the heart-breaking sobs which frequently interrupted the re- 
cital of the narrative, as he related to me the particulars, 
made such an impression upon me, that I shall never forget it 
as long as I live. He had practiced the habit of masturbation 
from the age of ten, as near as he could recollect, but thought 
it might probably have been earlier. It was first commenced 
by mere accident ; climbing a tree in his father's garden to 
obtain some fruit, the friction upon the genital organs pro- 
duced so agreeable a sensation, that he repeated the act again 



SELF-ABUSE. 147 

and again ; this led him to attempt to produce the same 
pleasurable feelings by other means, first by rubbing outside 
his clothes, and ultimately by titillation of the naked virile 
member with the hand. Having continued this practice for 
two or three years, an emission was the result ; the pleasure 
being much greater now than before, there was little proba- 
bility of the habit being discontinued ; and now, too, began to 
make their appearance inclinations for intercourse with the 
opposite sex, which this vicious practice was found the means 
of gratifying. At last, when about sixteen, he determined to dis- 
continue the baneful practice, not because he saw any evil in it, 
but because he looked upon it as a boyish habit ; and, as he was 
now arriving, as he thought, to manhood, he concluded that 
the practices of childhood, this among the number, should be 
thrown aside ; but before he had carried out his resolution 
more than a week, he was seized with an excessive desire for 
sexual intercourse ; this he dare not indulge in, for fear of 
violating those laws and precepts of Christianity which his 
pious father had instilled into his mind. Fornication he 
looked upon as a horrible sin, and, however strong the temp- 
tation to it, it must be avoided. You will readily imagine 
the sequel ; he again returned to his old habit, and for years 
afterwards viewed it not as an evil, but as a positive good, 
since it was to him the means of avoiding the sin of fornica- 
tion. " Oh ! " he said to me, with tears in his eyes, " if my 
father, or some one else, had conversed with me on matters of 
this kind at that period, it would have prevented all this suf- 
fering. But no, all such subjects were prohibited from being 
mentioned, and I went on sinning against God, and against 
my own constitution, in complete ignorance." The habit was 
continued for two years longer, when his constitution com- 
menced breaking up ; he began to look pale and emaciated, 
his appetite fell off, severe pains were experienced in the back 
part of the head, and in the testes'and the loins ; seminal emis- 
sions frequently occurred, and he was fast becoming the 



148 SELF-ABUSE. 

shadow of Ms former self. His friends began to be alarmed 
at his appearance ; the family medical man was consulted ; 
his lungs were examined, and declared sound, and the disease 
pronounced general debility, which a change of air and tonic 
medicines would probably remove. The tonic medicines, in 
the shape of large doses of quinine, were administered ; the 
sea-coast was resorted to for a change of air, but the habit 
was continued, and the patient experienced no relief. The 
root of the disease had escaped attention, and, as a matter of 
course, the symptoms did not improve. At this period the 
patient himself had not the slightest idea that the debilitated 
state of his frame originated in the habit he had been so long 
practising. He thus continued to grow worse and worse 
and his friends made up their minds that whatever might be 
the cause of his disease, he certainly would never recover. 
Celebrated physicians were now consulted, but the habit that 
was draining the fountains of the body of their vitality was 
never referred to, and the consequence was that the treatment 
had no effect. At length the young man began to notice a 
great change in his genital organs ; the scrotum hung down 
in the pendulous state before mentioned ; on the left side no 
testicle could be felt, but in its place a number of hard cords ; 
there was an apparent diminution in size of the external parts, 
and an eruption made its appearance under the prepuce. 
These circumstances led him to imagine that probably the 
habit he had been so long practising might have something 
to do with the condition in which he found himself, and he de- 
termined to make inquiry on the subject. In his search 
through various works, for the purpose of ascertaining this 
fact, he alighted upon " J. J. Bousseau's Confessions," which 
completely opened his eyes, and he now saw clearly the na- 
ture of the horrible vice he had for so many years indulged 
in, and the consequences which were now, in misery to him- 
self, flowing from it. It was immediately after this that I 
saw him ; and although, from the nature of the case, and the 



SELF-ABUSE. 149 

extent of the evil, I at first despaired of rendering him any 
service, yet I am happy to say, that, with his discontinuing 
the practice, the administration of powerful remedies inter- 
nally, the employment of the Medicated Bougie, and the use 
of lotions and injections locally, he is now completely recov- 
ered, and is, he informed me, the last time I saw him, about 
to enter shortly into the connubial state with a young lady 
of great wealth and beauty. This case alone ought to be 
sufficient to show the evil of keeping young men in ignorance 
of the proper use of the genital organs, and the abuses to 
which these organs are liable. 



CHAPTER IV. 



SPERMATORRHEA. 

The disease called Spermatorrhoea is one of the most com- 
mon results of Masturbation ; indeed, it is almost an invaria- 
ble result, for it is next to an impossibility for any person to 
practice this baneful habit for any length of time, without 
suffering from the involuntary escape of seminal fluid, either 
with the urine or otherwise. It does not follow, however, 
that if an individual suffers* from emissions, that, therefore, he 
must have been guilty of the vice of Onanism. By no means : 
the disease may have had its origin in excessive venery, or 
weakness from other causes, or in some cases, I have no doubt 
it is constitutional. " The Yesiculae Seminales," says Lalle- 
mand, " take on the habit of contracting themselves under 
the influence of excitement less energetic than usual, and 
quite abnormally so. In such cases, a full bladder or rectum, 
a bed too warm or too soft, lying on the back, warm or ex- 
citing drinks, etc., provoke emissions more readily than they 
ought. It is in such instances that the intimate and recipro- 
cal connexion between the vesiculae seminales and brain pro- 
duces lascivious dreams, les plus desordonnes, under the slight- 
est direct or indirect excitement of the genital organs, and 
inevitable pollutions, from the reproduction of all the ideas 
which are connected with those of generation." Among the 
common causes of spermatorrhoea, I might place haemorrhoids 
(piles) , a long foreskin, accumulation of dirt with the secre- 
tion under the prepuce, drinking large quantities of alcoholic 
drinks, gonorrhoea, venereal excess, and even, though it may 



SPERMATORRHOEA. 151 

seem paradoxical, excessive continence ; but the most com- 
mon of all, is weakness of the genito-urinary apparatus, 
resulting from the habit before named. 

The term Spermatorrhoea, is derived from 27te${ia, semen, 
Peco, to flow, and is applied to all cases where emission of 
seminal fluid takes place otherwise than in obedience to the 
impulse arising from the natural act of coition, or the will of 
the person in whom it occurs. 

It has been already remarked, that the seminal fluid is 
stored up in the vesiculse seminales, and that small ducts 
open from the junction of these with the vasa deferentia into 
the urethra, and that by means of these ducts, the fluid es- 
capes. Now, in the healthy state, these are continually kept 
closed, so that the semen cannot escape, except in obedience 
to the impulse arising from the natural act of coition ; but 
when they become weakened by excessive venery, or, what is 
more common, by the habit to which the last chapter was 
devoted, dilatation follows, and the slightest degree of pres- 
sure will cause the semen — as yet imperfectly formed — to es- 
cape ; such pressure, for example, as would be present when 
the fceces were passing down the rectum, or when the bladder 
was contracting to empty itself. You will remember that 
the vesiculae seminales are situated immediately between the 
bladder and the rectum, so that, when the fceces are passing 
down the latter, there is necessarily pressure upon the vesicles, 
and, consequently, it is then that the first symptoms of sper- 
matorrhoea are observed. The same thing occurs when the 
bladder is contracting to empty itself, and from the same 
reason ; a quantity of thick slimy fluid may be observed pass- 
ing with the last few drops of urine, which, upon examina- 
tion, turns out to be semen. Should the weakness, and, con- 
sequently, the dilatation, continue to increase, it will require 
no pressure to force away the seminal fluid, for it will escape 
as soon as formed, not remaining in the vesicles at all, but, 
passing immediately into the urethra, will either escape in 



152 SPERMATORRHEA. 

large quantities, or pass backwards into the bladder, and 
come away with the urine. 

B. C — called upon me one morning, and informed me that 
he was twenty-four years of age, had practiced masturbation 
whilst at school, but had left it off for more than ten years, 
and had recently had sexual intercourse with females, much 
more frequently than he thought, to use his own words, " did 
him good ; " for the last week he had felt a little pain in the 
penis, and had noticed, on going to stool, a quantity of white 
glutinous matter pass away from the urethra, and become 
suspended in the water. I requested him to furnish me with 
some of the matter upon a piece of glass, which he did ; on 
examining it with the microscope, I detected spermatozoa, 
ordered a lotion to be applied to the genital organs morning 
and evening, and medicine to be taken internally, together 
with the use of the Medicated Bougie ; in three weeks he was 
quite recovered. 

The seminal fluid is elaborated from the blood in nearly 
the same way that the milk, or any other secretion is ; but, 
requiring a much larger quantity of blood to form it, it is of 
a much more vital character. Indeed, it has been computed, 
that its vitality is twenty times that of blood, and, conse- 
quently, the escape of an ounee of semen would be equal in 
the debilitating effects it would produce upon the system, to 
the loss of twenty ounces of blood ; and by this calculation, 
any one may easily judge of the result of frequent emissions. 

In the healthy condition of the generative organs, the sem- 
inal fluid is continually being formed, and 'stored up in the 
vesicular seminales, to be ejected from the system at regular 
intervals ; but the formation of this fluid, like that of most 
other secretions, is very much under the control of the nerv- 
ous system, and will consequently be much increased by the 
mind being continually directed towards objects calculated to 
excite the sexual propensity ; and thus, if it be frequently 
ejected, a much larger quantity will be produced, at a terri- 
ble expense to the other organs of the body. When, there- 



SPERMATORRHEA. 153 

fore, a morbid condition of these organs has been brought 
about, by excessive venery, or any other evil habit, so as to 
give rise to spermatorrhoea, and the patient suffers from the 
continual escape of this vital fluid, the quantity that may be 
secreted and passed away, is enough to frighten any one who 
understands any thing of the physiology of the human body. 

One form, and a very common one, in which we meet with 
spermatorrhoea, is the escape of seminal fluid during the 
night, accompanied with erection of the penis, and erotic and 
lascivious dreams ; the emission in this case is generally sup- 
posed to arise from the excitement of the pictures before the 
imagination ; this, is, however, by no means the case. " The 
general belief," says Lallemand, " exists that erotic dreams 
produce nocturnal pollutions, and they are looked upon as very 
dangerous ; but lascivious pictures, which occur during sleep, 
arise from excitement of the genital organs, just as erections 
and spasmodic contraction of the vesiculas seminales do ; all 
these phenomena coincide, because they depend upon one and 
the same cause, but the one does not depend upon the other." 

A young man, of a nervous and excitable temperament, 
wrote to me, asking for advice under the following circum- 
stances : he had practised masturbation for many years, in 
fact, had commenced it as early as he could remember, and 
had continued it till within two years of the time when I 
saw him, at which period his age was twenty-one. For the 
last year he had suffered from emissions, but in a trifling de- 
gree — as he called it — once a fortnight, or sometimes a little 
oftener. Recently, however, he never slept a night without 
having his rest interrupted by dreams of a most lascivious 
character, imagining himself in the embrace of the most 
beautiful women that imagination could picture, which dream 
always ended with his consummating his wishes, as he im- 
agined, but which the morning revealed to him as a copious 
emission, his night-clothes and the bed being wet with the 
fluid which had escaped. As this was rather a serious case, 
7* 



154 SPERMATORRHOEA. 

I wished him to see me personally. This request he complied 
with, and I found, as I had anticipated, varicocele in one tes- 
ticle, and the whole of the genital organs in a great state of 
irritation. I employed remedies internal and external, and in 
two months had the pleasure of knowing that a complete 
cure had been effected. 

This is a very common form of spermatorrhoea. Scarcely 
a day passes without my seeing patients whose symptoms are 
analogous to those I have just detailed. The disease, like an 
assassin, attacks its victim during sleep, and when, conse- 
quently, he has no power to ward off the blow. Even on 
those nights when emissions do not occur, still the patient 
suffers from gloomy and terrible fancies, breaking in upon his 
slumbers, haunting his imagination, and reviving what during 
the day has occurred, of the most unpleasant nature. 

My slumbers — if I slumber — are not sleep, 
But a continuance of enduring thought, 
BTiich then I can resist not ; in my heart 
There is a vigil, and these eyes but close 
To look within. 

Sometimes the escape of seminal fluid is experienced at 
regular intervals during the day, apparently without any di- 
rect cause. The patient may be walking or sitting — in one 
position or another, when suddenly he feels a quantity of fluid 
escaping from the urethra, without exciting any pleasurable 
sensation, and in the entire absence of erection of the penis. 

G-. F., called upon me, and stated that a few days ago he 
had attempted intercourse with his wife, and had failed ; at 
first there was an erection, which, however, soon subsided, 
without any escape of semen, and then all sexual power was 
gone. He had been many years in Florida, and had enjoyed 
very good health, but for the last three or four weeks had 
suffered from the escape of what he supposed to be semen, 
which had passed away generally whilst taking a lounge on 
the sofa, and smoking his segar after dinner. This was not 



SPERMATORRHOEA. 155 

the result of an erection, nor did it occasion any pleasurable 
sensation. He had, he stated, practised Onanism during his 
youth, but did not think it was that, or he should have felt the ill 
effects of it before. I used the Medicated Bougie, ordered cold 
bathing every morning, and prescribed internal remedies ; and 
the patient was quickly restored to health and manly vigor. 

The worst form of spermatorrhoea, because the one most 
likely to escape detection, is that where the semen escapes by 
the ducts into the urethra, not, however, to be immediately 
ejected from the system, but to pass backwards into the blad- 
der, and then to be brought away with the urine. In this 
way the disease may go on for years without even being sus- 
pected, and the person who finds himself from this cause suf- 
fering from general debility and nervousness, wonders what 
can have given rise to the symptoms under which he labors. 

L. M., an Englishman, consulted me, to know if I could 
point out any probable cause why his wife had not borne 
children. He stated that he had been married four years, 
had lived rather freely previously, but did not think he suf- 
fered any ill effects from it, as he was able to have intercourse 
with his wife, although he admitted the pleasure experienced 
during the ejection of semen was not as great as formerly. 
Thinking he might suffer from this form of spermatorrhoea, I 
inquired if he knew whether the seminal fluid retained its 
usual color, smell, and consistence ; to which he replied, that 
it did not ; it was much thinner, and void of smell ; the quan- 
tity, also, passed was very trifling. I Fig. rv. 
then requested him to bring me some 
of his urine, which he did. Upon ex- 
amination, this was found to contain 
large numbers of spermatozoa, but not 
perfect ones ; most of them with the 
tails broken off, or mutilated in some 
other way, presenting nearly the ap- 
pearance seen in the Diagram Fig. IV. Fig. rv. imperfect sper- 

1 ° ° matozoa. 




156 SPERMATORRHOEA. 

I now informed him that the cause of his wife's barrenness 
was obvious ; he himself labored under the evil effects of 
spermatorrhoea, and the seminal fluid was of a most vitiated 
character, such, in fact, as could not possibly fecundate an 
ovum. He then placed himself under my treatment ; the 
result of which will be best seen in the fact, that in less 
than twelve months the newspapers announced the birth of 
an heir to his estates, which were considerable. 

The broken or imperfect form of the spermatozoa is a com- 
mon consequence of spermatorrhoea, and is frequently met 
with in that disease. 

B. F., a young man about 23, a lawyer, who had been mar- 
ried about a year, and had never consummated the marriage 
obligation, called upon me to ask advice in his case. He in- 
formed me that he had never practised masturbation, nor, 
excepting once, when about eighteen, had he ever cohabited 
with a female ; and even then the pleasure he experienced was 
trifling. At the age of twenty-two, however, he married a 
young lady of great respectability, and of a warm and san- 
guine temperament. On attempting coition he failed, as 
there was no ejection of seminal fluid ; and almost before 
penetration had taken place, the power of erection disap- 
peared. This sadly disappointed him ; but thinking it proba- 
bly arose from his shyness, he consoled himself with that idea, 
and went to sleep. In the morning, another attempt was 
made, but with no better success : the next night, and the 
one succeeding that, was a repetition of the same circum- 
stance. He blundered out apologies to his wife, but she, in 
the generosity of her woman's nature, hoped he would think 
nothing of it — she, no doubt, hoping for better days. Week 
after week passed away with the same result, till at length he 
scarcely dare make the attempt ; his wife endeavored to en- 
dear him to her, but all in vain. At first he was desperate, 
and meditated self-destruction ; but at length he became ac- 
customed to the circumstance, and thought little of it : his 



SPERMATORRHOEA. 157 

wife was still in that same maiden state as when he took her 
from her father's home, but now he began to study her happi 
ness much less. Twelve months passed away, and one day 
some trifling neglect on the part of his wife caused him to 
make a most severe remark : she, in return, replied, that she 
thought he should be more lenient to her faults and imperfec- 
tions, as she had not been so severe upon his. He under- 
stood to what she referred, and went out at the door without 
replying : he reflected, and after a few moments determined to 
commit suicide, and returned again to the house for that pur- 
pose. Fortunately, however, it occurred to him, that if he 
did, the secret might out, and he could not bear the thought 
that remarks should be made upon such a subject, to his pre- 
judice, after he was dead. It now, too, occurred to him that 
he might be suffering from some malady which might be 
within the reach of medical skill to remove. In this condi- 
tion he waited upon me : I examined his urine with the mi- 
croscope, and, after much trouble, and with great difficulty, 
detected spermatozoa. This solved the problem ; I adminis- 
tered the remedies I employ in such cases, and the following 
short note, which I received six months after, will indicate 
the result. 

My Dear Sir : — I am happy to inform you that I am com- 
completely recovered ; the proof being, not only that I can en- 
gage in the act of coition, as other men, but that my wife is 
encienie. I shall look upon you as my benefactor as long as I 
live. I am, dear Sir, 

Yours very truly, 

Dr. Hammond. B. F. 

Impotence is surely the greatest calamity that can befall a 
man. With what contempt does a woman look upon a man 
who is incapable of performing the functions of his nature ; 
and how few are the individuals who possess courage enough 
to meet the jests of their fellow-men under such circumstances. 
Who could bear to think that the following remarks of Sir 



158 SPERMATORRHOEA. 

Astley Cooper applied to him ? " To such, a Yenus might 
display her charms, and on such, her son might exhaust his 
quiver in vain. Xo genial spring is here — no blooming sum- 
mer or fertile autumn ! but all is a winter — a dreary, desolate, 
and barren winter, in which the springs of life are frozen up, 
and the animal propensities destroyed." Impotence is com- 
monly the result of spermatorrhoea. 

There is another point or two which are of the greatest 
possible importance to refer to : these are, Firstly, the mode 
of detecting spermatozoa ; and, Secondly, the treatment to 
be adopted. To these I shall recur in subsequent chapters. 

The most important point for the patient to bear in mind, 
in regard to the treatment of this affection, is to attend to it 
in time. When it has once commenced, it very rapidly be- 
comes worse, and speedily, if not attended to, passes beyond 
the reach of all treatment, nearly. 



CHAPTER V. 



PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON SPERMATORRHEA, &c, &e. 

The Causes, Symptoms, Prevention, and Cure, by a New and 
Entirely Original System of Treatment 



DESCRIPTION, CAUSES, AND SYMPTOMS. 

This Disease, popularly termed Seminal Weakness, but 
scientifically called Spermatorrhoea, is also known by a 
variety of names, more or less familiar to readers, as : — 
" Sexual debility," " seminal emissions " (noctural or diurnal), 
" nervous debility," " physical decay," " mental debility," 
" premature exhaustion," " premature decay," " consumption," 
" impotence," " nervousness," &c, &c, &c. 

Young men are the most frequent victims of Spermator- 
rhoea, although it is by no means confined to them, as many 
adults are quite deplorably afflicted with it, and hurried by 
thousands, yearly, into the very jaws of death, consumption, 
and the premature, silent grave, through the indirect agency 
of this frightfully-appalling and secret scourge of civilization. 
For be it known and remembered that this disease is very 
often the immediate, though generally unsuspected, cause* of 
Phthisis Pulmonalis, or Pulmonary Consumption — and con- 
sumption is the fell destroyer of nine-tenths of the civilized 
human race. 

The observance of the sacred injunction, speaking the 
language of nature, or the physical laws : " Be fruitful and 
multiply and replenish the earth," is not unfrequently attend- 
ed with much difficulty, if not impossibility, for the patient 
laboring under this complaint ; to remove which, is the duty 
of every physician who is endowed with benevolence, reason, 
and sufficient skill : to lay before all the proper means for 

* The origin of Phthisis, is Constitutional Syphilis in the parents or pro- 
genitors . 



160 PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 

accomplishing so desirable and important an object, is the aim 
of the following- pages. 

The involuntary and too frequent discharge of the semen, 
or the seed, is called nocturnal pollution, if it happens only 
with voluptuous dreams at night ; and diurnal pollution, if it 
happens in the day time, with the slightest irritation, as for 
instance — if riding on horseback, or by an amorous idea, or 
by looking at or touching a female. The too frequent or in- 
voluntary nocturnal pollution is debilitating ; still more so is 
the diurnal pollution, which may be classed as one of the 
most weakening and destructive of evacuations. 

To make this all-important subject perfectly clear to the 
general reader, I shall adopt the classification of Bohn,* a 
late Prussian writer of ability on this class of diseases. 
" Spermatorrhoea," says he, " has three different stages, 
showing themselves — 

" 1st, by Nocturnal Emissions ; 

" 2nd, by Diurnal Seminal Losses ; 

" 3d, by Impotency, or Complete Loss of Manhood. 

" All these three different stages are accompanied, more 
or less, by nervousness ; by an impaired nutrition of the 
body ; by lassitude, langour, weakness of the limbs and back ; 
by indisposition and incapacity for study or labor ; by dull- 
ness of apprehension ; a deficient power of attention ; loss 
of memory ; aversion to society ; love of solitude ; timidity ; 
self-distrust ; dizziness ; headache ; pains in the side, back, 
and limbs ; affections of the eyes (specks, &c, floating before 
them) ; pimples on the face ; and, in extreme cases, even by 
idiocy, or insanity, in their most intractable forms. 

" The progress from one stage to another, is oftentimes 
scarcely perceptible ; the virile organs losing their vigor so 
gradually, and those seminal losses being frequently so hidden 
from view, that only a well-experienced eye is able to trace 

* Sur les Pertes seminales. Paris, 1852. 



PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 161 

them. Nocturnal emissions, of course, both with and with- 
out erections of the procreative organ, cannot be overlooked ; 
but diurnal emissions, or the second stage, are frequently es- 
caping the attention of the patient, till he finds himself in 
the third stage, or wholly unable to perform the natural 
sexual functions of a man. 

" At first, the emissions are always attended by erections 
and pleasurable sensations during sleep, but in progress of 
time they begin to occur without either erection or sensa- 
tion ; and finally take place in the day-time, and this some- 
times whenever the bowels are moved, or the urine passed, 
or by the slightest excitement in female society, or occasion- 
ally they pass too quick during the act of copulation, so as to 
prevent either party from enjoying it. In extreme cases, 
there is a constant passing away of the semen, with scarcely 
any intermission, and a complete loss of power and retention 
is the inevitable consequence. 

11 Persons, therefore, who have been suffering in former 
years from frequent nocturnal emissions, and are now not 
any more troubled in this way, will be oftentimes quite igno- 
rant about the cause of their nervousness, their incapacity for 
study or business, their depression of spirits, &c:, until by 
accident they detect small quantities of semen in the urine, 
&c." 

Causes of Spermatorrhoea. — The immediate cause of this 
disease is debility, or a loss of vitality in the sexual-nervous 
system, with the consequent morbid sensibility and irritabili- 
ty of the seminal ducts and their appendages, the cerebellum 
and spinal nerves. In the highest degree of diurnal pollution, 
or seminal leakage, consists the greatest weakness of the 
seminal vessels — a slight pressure of the parts even causing 
an evacuation of semen. [Sea the article Impotence, Chap- 
ter YIH., page 177.] 

The most common predisposing cause of involuntary dis- 
charge of semen is the practice of Masturbation, or Onanism ; 



102 PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 

and next to this in frequency is the occurrence of an attack 
of Gonorrhoea. There is a variety of other causes which may 
give rise to Spermatorrhoea, such as constipation of the 
bowels, venereal infection, strictures of the rectum, or of the 
urethra, repelled cutaneous eruptions, hot climates, and the 
operation of cold ; but these causes are so rare in comparison 
with the two first mentioned, that I will pass them by with- 
out further remark, confining myself to the discussion of, 
and pointing out the treatment adapted to, the disease when 
brought on by Onanism and Gonorrhoea. 

When the emissions become thus unnatural, they may be 
said to have outlived the wants of the system, and it is then 
that they compromise the health of the individual. The ir- 
ritation which arises from the presence of a superabundance 
of spermatic fluid, still persisting and increasing, the organs 
themselves begin to feel the pernicious effects of the over-ex- 
citement, and the erections become incomplete, the emissions 
hurried, and the act almost entirely devoid of pleasure. Fi- 
nally, the power of erection is entirely lost, the nocturnal dis- 
charges are diminished, and the change takes place of having 
the discharges during the day, instead of the night, as before 
— diurnal emissions ; debility, or loss of vitality in the semi- 
nal-nervous system, as explained in the foregoing chapter and 
elsewhere, and, in some rare instances, capillary congestion — 
not inflammation, as Lallemand supposed — have now extended 
to the entire series of organs concerned in reproduction, and 
to the urinary apparatus ; and every time the patient defecates, 
or attempts to urinate, these acts are accompanied by a sensi- 
ble loss of semen. 

General Symptoms of Spermatorrhea. — Debility of the 
nervous system, hypochondria, cramps, weakness of the eyes, 
optical delusions, weakness of the memory, of all the faculties 
of the mind ; loss of the manliness of character, and the love 
of life ; and if not properly treated and cured, these symptoms 
are followed by palsy, imbecility, insanity, consumption of the 
spinal marrow and lungs, and finally by death. 



PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 163 

Among the more prominent symptoms of Spermatorrhoea, 
or of a tendency towards this demoralizing and insidious mal- 
ady in young persons, are, a subversion of the natural temper 
to a disposition prone either to excessive irritability or mor- 
bid sullenness ; in some, the face becomes sallow, in 
others, meagre and attenuated ; the countenance flushes fit- 
fully and readily ; the eyes lose their clearness and vivacity 
(or "vim"), and an unnatural yearning for solitude takes 
the place of that gaiety proper to the period of youth ; 
whilst an invincible aversion to the searching gaze of the ob- 
server, master, friend, or parent, betrays, in the downcast 
eye, the consciousness of secret shame. This alteration in the 
temperament and manners displays itself more or less obvi- 
ously, and lengthened, according to the organization of the 
constitution, and the tenacity of hold which the habit of self- 
abuse has effected upon the youthful mind by its destructive 
influence. In fact, the symptoms are such as might be ex- 
pected to arise from such a drain upon the system ; the indi- 
vidual becomes lean, wan, and dejected ; wandering pains are 
felt throughout the body, but particularly in the head and region 
of the kidneys ; the digestion is laboriously and painfully per- 
formed ; the most obstinate constipation will oftentimes be pres- 
ent ; wind in the bowels will continually torment and harass the 
patient, driving him out of society ; the lassitude and general 
debility which result from these conditions, will induce a state 
of moroseness in the patient, which renders him discontented 
with himself and others ; he avoids society, because of the 
restraints thrown around him. He becomes averse to every- 
thing which reminds him of the pleasures in which he can no 
longer take a part ; he falls into profound melancholy, be- 
comes irascible, misanthropic, completely hypochondriac ; 
occupied with one sole object, he manifests the greatest indif- 
ference for everything that does not pertain to his own condi- 
tion. 

The emissions in most of these cases occur during the sleep 



164 PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 

accompanied by an erection of the penis, at times, and are 
often consequent upon the termination of a lascivious dream. 

Among the symptoms which render evident disease of the 
mind, are, " the impairment of the elasticity and tension of 
the intellect — the power of application is diminished, the love 
of pursuit is decreased, the perception becomes slow, confused, 
and erroneous — the wide range of the imagination is curtail- 
ed, and concentrated upon the one all-absorbing subject — the 
mind becomes old, if I may so speak, so that the memory of 
the immediate past is obliterated, while that of scenes and 
events long since passsd, of by-gone days of happiness and 
mental hilarity, remains to harass and torment the mind that 
would escape from its torturing and terrible thoughts ; the 
judgment becomes infirm and vacillating ; a horrible inclina- 
tion to commit suicide is felt by the patient at the sightfof in- 
struments of death — a feeling rendered still more horrible, by 
the ineffectual attempts which are made to flee from it." 

These, and many other symptoms (see chapter TIL) are of- 
ten observed, although, perhaps, never in any one single pa- 
tient. 

I should, perhaps before this, have stated what was the true 
nature of the local disease. From the preceding and succeed- 
ing pages, it can be seen plainly, that it consists in a los3 
of vitality — but where ? I will answer : whether brought 
on by self-pollution, gonorrhoea, or excessive coitus, the 
nerves of the mucous membrane of the seminal tubes and 
ejaclatory ducts (or those canals through which the semen 
flows), and the testes, become debilitated from over-use. That 
is the true nature of the disease. Just in the same way that 
any other secreting organ would become weakened and irri- 
tated from too much use, these delicate organs become so like- 
wise, and it could hardly be expected that they should do 
otherwise. In the course of the disease, other organs adjacent 
and connected with them, become exhausted, and thus in- 
crease the patient's danger. 



CHAPTER VI. 



On the New Treatment of Spermatorrhoea, and its Concomitant Dis- 
eases, by means of the American Veratrum Viride, Spts. Formic, 
the Author's Medicated Bougie, the Preparations of Iodine, etc. 

Now the question arises, how are these seminal losses, noc- 
turnal as well as diurnal, to be arrested, thereby restoring 
not only the affected parts, but the whole body, to their for- 
mer pristine vigor ? The best because the most prompt method, 
is by a judicious combination of Medicinal, Local, and Medi- 
co-Mechanical means ; or in other words, by General (con- 
stitutional) and Special (local) Treatment. 

The special or local treatment consists in first reducing the 
local weakness and relaxation, and thus bringing about a 
healthy action in the seminal vessels, etc., largely by the aid 
afforded through the medium of the Medicated Bougie ; and, 
also, in counteracting the debility of the system at large, by the 
employment of suitable internal remedies ; one of the princi- 
pal among which, in my practice, is the Veratrum Yiride, 
than which a more appropriate Nervine was never vouchsafed 
to afflicted man suffering from Spermatorrhoea : for it will, if 
properly combined with Iodine, and other auxiliary ingredi- 
ents, effectually supply the deficient constitutional vigor, gen- 
erally connected with seminal weakness, through the brain 
and spinal nerves particularly. 

To make the treatment perfectly intelligible, a little ana- 
tomical and physiological knowledge will be useful to the 
reader. I again quote from Bohn : 

■ Physiology and Composition of the Semen.-— The semen passes 



166 NEW TREATMENT. 

from the testes along a pipe or duct, called the vas deferens, which 
opens into the urethra, through the prostate gland and seminal vesi- 
cles, just behind the upper and back part of the scrotum, or bag. 
These ducts and vesicles have, in a healthy state, sufficient power of 
retention and contractility, to retain the semen in its proper place, 
till it is wanted in a natural way in cohabitation. If, however, they 
are weakened from self-abuse, they become relaxed, and, as it were, 
enlarged, and consequently allow the semen, almost mechanically, to 
escape involuntarily at the slightest excitement. When irritated, they 
are liable to be acted upon by the urine, which passes over their 
mouths ; and as the bladder itself soon partakes of the same irrita- 
tion, the urine is being constantly passed, and is nearly always mixed 
with semen." 

According to a chemical analysis of semen made by Mons. 
Yauquelin, it appears to be composed of — 

1. A peculiar extractive matter . 6 

2. Phosphate of Lime 3 

3. Soda 1 

4. Water 90 

100 
Dr. Bohn found a substance resembling mucus, a peculiar 
form of albumen, a matter slightly soluble in either soda or 
chloride of sodium (common salt), phosphate of lime, sulphur, 
and a peculiar volatile distinguishing odorous principle. 

The semen of animals is a thick white or yellowish white 
fluid, having a peculiar penetrating odor. It becomes more 
transparent when exposed to the atmosphere, and is coagu- 
lated by alcohol. Semen, of both men and the lower animals, 
is composed of three distinct elements, a fluid, granules, and 
animalculae — viz., the spermatozoa. These animalculae are 
found both in the vas deferens and in the seminal vesicles. The 
fluid of the semen cannot be obtained separate from its other 
component parts, and, consequently, its other peculiar proper- 
ties are unknown. The spermatozoa were discovered by a 
student at Leyden, named Hamme, and are ably described by 
M. Leuwenhoeck ; and during the present century by M. 



NEW TREATMENT. 167 

Wagner, M. Prevost, Baron Dumas, Dr. Muller (of the Uni- 
versity of Berlin), and Dr. Carpenter (of University College, 
London). They are found in man and the majority of the 
higher classes of animals. In birds, they are produced anew 
each Spring, and disappear in the Autumn. In the mam- 
malia (animals which bring forth their young and suckle them), 
their formation commences at an early age ; in rabbits their 
development is complete, according to M. Wagner, at the 
third month after birth ; in cats and dogs it is effected much 
later ; but in men, it does not take place till the age of pu- 
berty, which on the continent of Europe occurs when the in- 
dividual is about fourteen years of age. These important 
observations have also been confirmed by those eminent men, 
M. Yon Siebold, Dr. Valentine, Dr. Dewhurst, Dr. Hutin, 
Dr. Brier, and Dr. Hallmann. 

These animalculae or spermatozoa, are the cause of impreg- 
nation in the female after a successful matrimonial enjoyment, 
and, of course, this can only take place when these microscopic 
animalculae are perfectly formed. However, it has been dis- 
covered, not only by myself, but by far more eminent physiolo- 
gists, that when, from self-abvse, the individual is attacked 
with Spermatorrhoea, these minute animals are imperfectly 
formed, and consequently no impregnation can take place in 
the female ; and consequently, all hopes of a married pair, 
under these circumstances, are entirely out of the question. 
This reason, alone, independent of others I could name, will de- 
monstrate the absolute necessity of every individual suffering 
from Spermatorrhoea, and especially when it has originated 
from baneful nocturnal practices, paying particular attention 
to these important subjects. 

Deposition of Seminal Fluid in the Urine. 

Semen constitutes a very frequent deposit in the urine of 
persons suffering from Spermatorrhoea, (from the pernicious 
use of curative instruments, rings, etc., which, in " preventing 



168 NEW TREATMENT. 

the emissions," as the quack says, causes it (the semen) to 
enter the bladder, and produces Impotence), and which can 
only be detected by the microscope. This is also shown, by 
the presence of the well-known seminal animalcules and cor- 
puscles. The spermatozoa are nearly always dead, in con- 
sequence of the injurious action of the urine itself upon their 
vitality. They are occasionally seen in the urine in small 
number, where there is no visible deposit. 

In combination with these spermatic animalculae, octohed- 
ral crystals of oxalate of lime are frequently noticed. Some 
pathological chemists have stated, that when these crystals 
occur in urine, semen is always present ; but as for as my 
own observations extend (and these have been extensive — 
almost daily), such has not been the case. In this I am con- 
firmed by the researches of Dr. Hassell. 

" It is very common for patients to remark, that their urine is thick 
and ropy, particularly the last drop, and it is generally thought that 
this arises from inflammation of the bladder, but in most cases it is 
only from being mixed with semen. Many respectable married men, 
of temperate habits, do not suppose that they are in the least af- 
fected in this way, simply because they do not know that such losses 
could occur in any hidden form. On acquainting them with this form 
of Spermatorrhoea, they are amazed, and deeply regret the want of 
information that had prevented them from knowing the cause of their 
suffering before. There is no doubt, but that this hitherto undetected 
form of Spermatorrhoea, has been the cause of incalculable misery to 
thousands, and that it has condemned numbers to insanity and an un- 
timely death : in married people, this frequently arises, where the 
bounds of true moderation in the sexual act have been exceeded." 
— Brau. 

We now can resume the above observations in a few words. 
This relaxation, and loss in the power of retention, in the sem- 
inal conductors, must be considered as the real cause of the dis- 
ease in question'; while the too frequent losses of the seminal 
fluid, produced by them, are the cause of the constitutional 
symptoms above enumerated. 

To produce a healthy contraction (through revitalization of 



NEW TREATMENT. 169 

the seminal-nervous system) of these seminal vessels, tubes, 
ducts, and vesicular seminales, then, throughout their entire 
length, is to cure the Emissions. I shall now point out the 
proper treatment. 

General Treatment. — The cure of the too frequent pol- 
lutions is at the same time the cure of Onanism, and is im- 
possible without desisting entirely from the latter. To this 
end, the prurient imagination is to be regulated and diverted 
from voluptuous and sensual objects ; avoid obscene and dis- 
gusting books ; the mind should be occupied with serious and 
abstract occupations ; the physical powers are to be invigora- 
ted by exercise, so that the couch is sought from a sense of 
weariness, almost, though not from excessive fatigue. The 
diet is to be bland, nutritious, and plain, and the ' patient 
should avoid all that is stimulating and exciting, especially 
spices, wines and other liquors ; and in their place vegeta- 
bles and fruits should be used : no food should be taken late 
at night, nor indeed for some hours before retiring to bed, while 
feather beds should be avoided, and early rising adopted. 

With these preliminary regulations, then, the cure is to be- 
gin. 

The next thing necessary, is to strengthen and remove the 
weakness and morbidly-increased irritability of the sexual ap- 
paratus. This should be done with great precaution. An 
immediate and too sudden strengthening of the organs would 
increase the local irritability, and of course the pollutions, 
and thereby the debility ; hence the absurdity and pernicious- 
ness of using the various alcoholic preparations of cantharides, 
or Spanish flies, sold in this and other markets under various 
names and forms. At first, therefore, the more powerful 
remedies are not to be used, but the Medicated Bougie, the 
Spts. Formic, the mineral acids, and particularly the Aro- 
matic Sulphuric Acid, in doses of 15 to 20 drops, three times 
a day, are to be our chief reliance ; after a week or two, a 
mixture of this acid and the Spiritus Formic, with Tinct. 



1*70 NEW TREATMENT. 

Cinchona ; and after another week, the time will have come 
for employing the Veratrum Yiride, Iodine, <fcc. 

At the same time, the use of means which have a tendency 
to diminish the irritability, and give real strength, should not 
be neglected. For instance, sea baths and repeated bathings 
of the genitals, the perinoeum, and the back, with cold salt 
water ; afterwards, cold water mixed with Spirit. For- 
mic, and camphorated spirits ; together with bathing in the 
river or sea. Also, artificial ferruginous baths — vitriolized 
iron, half an ounce to each bath — used in connection with the 
other means, will, when the baths can be conveniently em- 
ployed, facilitate the cure ; although they are not absolutely 
essential. 



SEMINAL GLEET. 

A seminal gleet may arise from an excessive indulgence in 
venereal pleasures, from stimulating provocatives — as " invig- 
orating cordials/' <fcc, — as well as from self-abuse ; it may 
also be brought on by a variety of accidental causes, such as 
very violent labor or exercise ; lifting weights above the 
strength of the body, or other strains ; violent or otherwise 
improper medicines, may also produce this complaint ; or it 
may be occasioned by epilepsies, convulsions, or involuntary 
emissions, whether from dreams or other causes. In the ap- 
proaches of this disease, there are generally no symptoms of 
actual pain, except a weakness and a dull uneasiness in the 
loins and about the neck of the bladder ; the semen or seed 
passes away insensibly, and particularly on going to stool, or on 
using the smallest force with the body ; the erections, though 
frequent, are not vigorous ; the semen is too readily ejected, 
and is thin, of a bluish color or shade. 

After this disease has continued for some time, the penis 
becomes heavy and useless, the testicles hang lower than 
usual, and grow heavy and awkward ; a pain sets in at the 



NEW TREATMENT. HI 

lower extremity of the spine or back bone, which by degrees 
is felt further up the back : the calves of the legs diminish, 
the patient's eyes grow dull and weak, a sense of weight is 
felt in the head and a ringing in the ears, the breath becomes 
short and laborious, especially after exercise, a slow and 
wasting fever comes on, with continual pains in the head, 
breast and bowels, attended with thirst and universal weari- 
ness and disinclination to motion ; at length the spirits be- 
come dejected, the memory fails, the sight decays, or an 
incurable gutta serena deprives the patient of it entirely, and 
a hectic closes the scene. 

In the cure of this disease, the remedies already pointed out 
in the preceding chapter are to be skillfully employed, at 
the same time that regimen and diet are of much importance ; 
the diet should be light, cordial, and extremely nourishing, 
and it should be taken frequently, and in small quantities at 
a time : the patient should retire to rest early in the evening, 
breathe a dry, pure, and mild air, and take gentle exercise, 
if possible on horseback, or in a carriage. The medicines 
should be judiciously combined with those auxiliaries which 
are moderately cordial, and such as increase the latent heat 
of the body ; cold bathing, also, will in this case be attended 
with considerable benefit. 



CHAPTER VII 



IMPOTENCE— A BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE AUTHOR'S 
NEW THEORY THEREON. 



THE FALLACY OF CAUTERIZATION DEMONSTRATED. 

By the term impotence, I mean the inability of the male 
to perform a fruitful coition. This defect is of different kinds 
and different in degree, being absolute or general, and existing 
under all conditions ; or relative, existing only at certain times 
and under certain circumstances. Thus impotence may be 
either complete or incomplete. In the latter case, impregna- 
tion is still possible, if met with a great degree of warmth 
or sympathy on the part of the woman. But if the impo- 
tence be absolute, then there is a total absence of the power 
of erection, or a too quick evacuation, or total failure in emit- 
ting the semen or sperm. 

Causes of Impotence. — These are of two kinds, predis- 
posing and immediate. I shall first state the immediate cause, 
and then the predisposing causes, or those causes which pre- 
cede and give rise to the former. In my estimation, the im- 
mediate cause is of the utmost importance, as it is upon this 
cause that the new treatment is based, in contradistinction to 
that of Lallemand. To this cause I have adverted in the 
Preliminary Chapter, and will now proceed to a more thor- 
ough amplification of it, in order to give the reader a true 
appreciation of my claims in relation therewith. But, before 
I do so, it will be as well to again briefly state Lallemand's 
idea of this immediate cause, upon which his treatment by 



IMPOTENCE. 113 

cauterization depends; this repetition being rendered the 
more essential, inasmuch as I wish to give his main reason 
for relying upon his theory of spermatorrhoea (the result of 
which disease is Impotence), for the purpose of showing the 
fallacy of said theory, and consequently of his treatment, 
which, I need hardly say, is founded upon his theory. 

According to Lallemand — an able surgeon of Montpelier. 
France — spermatorrhoea, impotence, &c;, are the results of 
inflammation of the seminal ducts ; and, as lunar caustic 
sometimes cures inflammation of the eye, he concluded that 
it would, also, cure inflammation of the ducts. To prove that 
it was inflammation of these ducts upon which the above- 
mentioned diseases depend, he xeferred to the red appearance, 
after death, of the lining of the ducts in some persons who 
had died of some other disease, while laboring under sperma- 
torrhoea or impotence. 

It has, however, since been shown, most conclusively, in 
scores of instances, by consummate French anatomists, that the 
red appearance of the lining of mucous canals, or organs 
(stomach, intestines, bladder, seminal ducts, urethra, etc.), is 
due merely to the act of death itself; or, in other words, that 
such redness is but a phenomenon of death, and takes place 
in this wise : In a tissue that has been long in a weak condi- 
tion, or for some time previous to death, the minute blood 
vessels of such tissue, or membrane, are in a relaxed, flaccid, 
and dilatable state ; and during the convulsive act of dying, the 
blood rushes into these relaxed vessels, and remains in them. 
This simple fact explains all. It not only completely over- 
throws the theory of Lallemand, but it as completely estab- 
lishes mine, namely, that it is weakness, from loss of vitality, 
of the seminal ducts, coupled, more or less, with brain and 
spinal debility, &c, which immediately causes spermatorrhoea, 
impotence, and the like. Many other solid reasons could 
easily be given to substantiate my theory — as the absence of 
the symptoms generally of inflammation in the seminal ducts 



1^4 IMPOTENCE. 

of those who labor under seminal emissions — provided cau- 
terization has not been employed ; but, as one fact is enough 
to overthrow any erroneous theory, even the most plausible, 
and as it is my wish not to trespass more than is absolutely 
necessary on the reader's attention, I will rest my case here ; 
merely adding, in conclusion, that my experience of many 
years in the treatment of these diseases, is alone sufficient to 
demonstrate the correctness of my theory, even were there no 
other reasons adducible. 

The predisposing or remote causes of impotence, may be : 
want of or bad food, excessive fatigue, great exertions of the 
mind, grief and sorrow, exhaustion by sexual excesses, Mas- 
turbation ; absence of the spermatozoa ; in a word, everything 
that diminishes the vitality of the man, and of the seminal 
ducts especially, or that gives to the semen a poor, thin, and 
watery nature, without a sufficient degree of fertile excitability 
in the generative organs. Such are some of the more promi- 
nent causes of complete impotence ; while those of relative 
or temporary impotence, are : physical or moral disgust, an- 
tipathy toward each other, or incompatibility of temper, both 
in the man and woman. A man may be impotent with one 
woman, while with another he is not. Even the influence of 
weakening and disturbing physical or moral causes, lack of 
self-confidence, or. too great a desire for coition, may become 
obstacles to its proper consummation. 

This disease is an occasional consequence of chronic gleety 
discharges from the urethra, and it is a defect the presence of 
which never fails to make a strong impression on the mind of 
the patient. It is connected with one of those acts which a 
man naturally prides himself upon, and justly considers it as 
connected with the strongest passion of his nature ; and any 
defect in the performance of it has a powerful influence upon 
the mind ; and this influence is often so potent, as to have an 
effect in producing the deficiency, where it was only supposed 
to exist. It consists in an inaptitude of the genital organs 



IMPOTENCE. 115 

for the venereal act, generally from loss of vitality in the 
whole seminal apparatus. 

Lallemand says the loss of vitality, whenever we are unable 
to attribute it to any apparent cause, ought to be ranged 
among the local symptoms of diurnal pollutions, and among 
the most certain ones. Impotence is more frequent from 
temporary than from permanent causes ; and though it may 
be the effect of the venereal disease, it is not generally the 
case. Gleet certainly'will, at times, produce a temporary de- 
fect, but the cure of it will remove this, and the patient will 
find himself in possession of his wonted powers and inclina- 
tions again. But this complaint is commonly the result of 
masturbation or self -abuse. (See the chapter on Self-Abuse). 

As Acton says, one of the most common causes in persons 
who consult us on account of impotence, is a lax scrotum and 
enlargement of the spermatic veins ; hence the condition of 
the scrotum and testicles is the first thing a surgeon should 
observe in these patients. In some instances, temporary im- 
potence, depending upon non-erection, is caused by fear, dis- 
gust, or timidity. In other instances, ill health, anxiety, pro- 
longed intellectual employment, or injuries to the head, are 
among some of the many causes to which we can trace a 
large number of the temporary causes of supposed impotency. 

The imprudent indulgencies of youth lead to habits which 
both reason and maturer years frequently in vain attempt to 
conquer ; and such practices destroy the tone and vigor of 
the sexual organs, and leave the wretched sensualist without 
that enjoyment which his immoral desires drive him, without 
regard to consequences, to indulge in. Hence the care that 
is necessary in guarding the minds of youth from imbibing 
improper ideas, which lead to such propensities. They end 
in the destruction of the constitution, and in a premature de- 
decay of those powers which nature meant should continue 
through the greater part of life, properly husbanded, as a 
source of enjoyment and usefulness. 



H6 IMPOTENCE. 

Says Lallemand, " We read in many serious authors, that 
old feeble husbands, who are nearly impotent, should seize 
this opportunity — he is speaking of the moment of waking in 
the morni?ig,when the accumulation of urine in the bladder is a 
powerful cause of excitement to the genital organs — and profit 
by the happy disposition in which they thus find themselves, 
to perform effectually their conjugal duties. However, more 
unfortunate advice has never been given. In fact, these 
erections are deceptive, inasmuch as they do not arise from a 
real want. A union of many circumstances being necessary 
for the accomplishment of the act, we may affirm, without 
dread of being deceived, that it is injurious ; that it is a true 
excess in regard to the debility of these individuals ; if the at- 
tempt should be persisted in, it must have the most deplorable 
results." 

Impotence is, if possible, a worse disease than spermator- 
rhoea ; for here the person thinks himself, as it were, annihi- 
lated, and debased from the dignity of his nature, and views 
himself as an outcast from society. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCE. 

As mentioned elsewhere, in 1854 I finally succeeded in dis- 
covering the true method of cure in this, and kindred com- 
plaints, and which consists in restoring the lost or impared en- 
ergy of the Yital or Nervous Circulation of the virile 
system, which, arising in the Brain and Spinal System, termi- 
nates in the seminal ducts and penis. In order to enable the 
reader to form, in this place, a rational idea of my method, I 
will here briefly describe the outlines of the original Theory 
which forms the basis on which the Treatment is founded, a3 
practiced by me for the prompt and safe removal of the com- 
plaint under consideration : — 

"1. There is, in all animate organizations, a Yital or 
Nervous Circulation, which is anterior, and superior in 
power, to the Wood-circulation, influences the direction or 
course of the latter, and wholly governs its motion and circu- 
lation from and to the heart — the action of which organ, also, 
depends entirely upon the Nervous Circulation — the source 
of heat and life, the vital principle. 2. All the phenomena of 
life (which result from action), have their origin in the ner- 
vous or vital circulation. When this vital fluid becomes, from 
any cause (as Masturbation, etc.), exhausted, or its action is 
long suspended (from obstruction, &c), a loss of vitality is the 
result; when it is partially obstructed, or its equilibrium is 
disturbed, by an undue accumulation of it in some parts to 
the prejudice of other organs or parts of the system (as is the 
8* 



178 TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCE. 

case in Impotency, etc.), especially when arising from mental 
labor or anxiety, disease, more or less serious, is the result. 

" Now, it is sometimes by an obstruction of the Nervous Cir- 
culation in the base of the brain, and certain portions of the 
spinal marrow, which is thus prevented, to a greater or less 
extent, as the case may be, from passing from the brain, etc., 
into the organs of the sexual system, that the complaint in 
question arises ; for, if we injure, obstruct, or destroy this 
Nervous Circulation in any of the organs of the body, disease 
or death of the organ so circumstanced is the result — invaria- 
bly and inevitably — be it the brain, heart, arteries and veins, 
lungs, stomach, liver, kidneys, or the Organs of Generation. 
Hence, to overcome these derangements and restore the tone 
of the organs affected, we must employ such means as will 
enable us to restore the free circulation of the Nervous fluid in 
this branch of the Nervous System, If this is properly done, 
health and vigor follow."* 

This, as I have stated, I finally succeeded in accomplish- 
ing, by a judicious and happy administration of medicinal, or 
medico-mechanical means, according to the choice of the pa- 
tient — some preferring the former or internal method, while 
others, whose time is of importance, choose the latter or local 
and medicinal mode, which combination effects the cure in 
half the time occupied by the constitutional treatment only. 
The particulars respecting these methods, may be found on 
preceding pages of this work, to which the reader is referred. 
I shall only add, that these methods are, I consider, after ample 
trial of them, Infallible — not having failed in a single in- 
stance in which I have undertaken to effect a cure of any of 
these complaints, Spermatorrhoea and Impotence particularly. 

Stimulants and excitants are the supposed remedies required, 
and every charlatan is furnished with his " invigorating cor- 
dial," or cauterizing specific, for this complaint. Such trash, 

* From Medical Information, etc., 6th ed., New York., 1855. 



TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCE. 1JI9 

and cold bathing, though plausible and rather popular with 
the crowd, are of little avail except as placeboes ; the means here 
required must be more powerful, and have an intimate relation 
to the particular cause from which the defect really proceeds, 
and whether it be connected merely with a local, or with a con- 
constitutional source. Such a means, either alone or in connec- 
tion w T ith the Medicated Bougie, the Yeratroi Yiride, will 
be found, on trial, if properly combined with other remedies 
already laid down, to prove itself, when regularly aud faith- 
fully persevered in, according to instructions adapted to indi- 
vidual cases. 

There is not in our whole Materia Medica, a medicine 
more powerful and certain, or more efficacious in aiding to 
restore, through the constitution, the vitality of the sexual ner- 
vous system, than the preparations of Iodine, in conjunction 
with the Veratrum and Spirit. Formic, if carefully employed. 
If used for some time, in connection with suitable adjuncts, it 
will effectually strengthen and restore the entire constitution, 
and produce that degree of vitality necessary for the proper 
consummation of the connubial union. 

In worn-out conditions of the nervous system, it will be 
necessary, in bad cases, to produce this desirable effect, to 
continue the use of these medicines (the Bougie excepted) for 
about two months, under instructions from some skillful and 
experienced practitioner in this line. There need be no in- 
convenience to the patient while going through with a course 
of these remedies, if properly compounded and administered, 
as the cetherization, gelatinization and confection of them, ef- 
fectually relieves these preparations from all disagreeable 
taste or odor ; provided the astherization, &c, shall have been 
scientifically conducted in accordance with the late chemical 
discoveries of Jceckl, whose formula? and apparatus have 
been adopted by me in the preparation of my choice liquid 
medicines. 

In conjunction with the above-mentioned treatment, it is 
advisable for the patient to employ strengthening diet, as 



ISO TREATMENT OF IMPOTENCE. 

eggs, meats, oysters, chocolate, &c., together with old wine as 
a beverage ; frequent ablutions of the genital organs in cold 
salt water, will, also, be very serviceable. 

I have elsewhere remarked, that premature old age is the 
consequence of excessive indulgencies, and the loss of those 
very pleasures which constitute the summit of our hap- 
piness, rightly considered. In such cases, medicine can do 
much good when aided by proper restrictions on the part of 
the patient ; and, in certain instances, by the aid and employ- 
ment of such appropriate surgical or local means as only come 
within the province of an experienced practitioner in this 
class of affections. I here refer to that formidable symptom, 
wherein the semen enters the bladder' and mixes with the urine, 
after having been ejected from the seminal vessels. For the 
removal of this symptom, I resort, when convenient, to the in- 
vention for which I claim the authorship, and which consists 
in the employment of the Medicated Bougie, alluded to above. 
After four years' experience with this method, I consider it 
infallible for the removal of this most mischievous 'symptom, 
and which no other means that I am acquainted with — and I 
believe I am conversant with them all — have ever been able to 
remedy in more %m double the length of time required by 
this medico-mechanical means. 



CHAPTER IX. 



ON URINARY DEPOSITS AND DISEASES. 



SEMEN IN THE URINE. 

As I have already observed, seminal debility from self- 
abuse, or indeed from any other cause, gives rise to involun- 
tary emissions of semen, which is not unfrequently found 
mixed with the urine, especially in those instances where 
" spermatorrhoea rings," or " curative instruments," have 
been resorted to by the patient ; from the circumstance of its 
regurgitating into the bladder, after having been ejected from 
the vesiculce seminales, through the seminal canals or ducts, 
into the urethra. (See page 77, Part I.) 

In the removal of this formidable symptom, I can, with 
confidence, claim never to have had an instance of failure ; 
and without desiring to reflect on the practice of others, who 
may have proposed different modes of relief, I can only state, 
for my own part, that, having adopted a peculiar method, 
which I have uniformly found satisfactory in overcoming 
every obstacle connected with the removal of the symptom in 
question, I prosecute that method, without being led by the 
views or practice of others. I may here remark that the 
process alluded to is not, as has already been shown, cauteri- 
zation, which mode I regard, in common with all practical 
surgeons, as improper, and fraught with much subsequent 
trouble, protracted pain and vexation to the patient. I 



182 ON URINARY DEPOSITS AND DISEASES. 

would add, that the method which I so successfully employ, 
is almost an entirely painless one. 

To fulfill the indication desired, various means have hith- 
erto been tried, which, until lately, or within the last four 
years, have been ineffectual ; but the new remedies already 
mentioned in foregoiug chapters, have, as before observed, 
been very satisfactorily employed : they consist either in di- 
rect medication of the seminal vessels at their point of 
entrance into the urethra, by means of the Medicated Bougie, 
or in the judicious employment of the Yeratrum Yiride, 
Spirit. Formic, iEther, Iodine, and their adjuncts. By the 
Medicated Bougie, however, the relief is at once brought 
about, thus speedily restoring the diseased organs to their 
healthy functions. ■ 

I do not hesitate to affirm that this new and peculiar im- 
provement is an infallible one, whose success can be calculated 
on in ninety-nine cases in the hundred. Those who have been 
disappointed by injudicious treatment, would do well to make 
early application for relief, for in no class of affections are 
delays so prolific of evil as in those discussed in this treatise. 
From three to five weeks, in recent cases, is the average time 
necessary to effect, by this method, a perfectly satisfactory 
cure ; slight cases being usually cured in half that time ; while 
the worst cases require but a few weeks more for their radi- 
cal and permanent relief. I have restored vigor to men at 
the age of sixty years, who had labored under sexual incom- 
petency for thirty years previous. Neither is it saying any 
thing more than the facts strictly warrant, when I affirm that 
hundreds of men, of all ages, have been made happy by 
means of this method ; while many women have become 
mothers * of fine healthy offspring, who had despaired of ever 



* C^rmx. — While the Veratrurn Viride. properly employed, is an absolute 
cure in cases of chlorosis, or "green sickness," in painful, difficult, or ob- 
structed menstruation, occurring in young, unmarried females, as well as in 
leucorrhcea, or " whites," it should never be prescribed for pregnant women ; 
otherwise, miscarriage would be certain to follow almost immediatelv. 



ON URINARY DEPOSITS AND DISEASES. 183 

having children, until they became acquainted with the po- 
tency of this treatment. Thus sterility, which depends upon 
impotence, in nine out of every ten cases, may also be readily 
removed by the use of the means which I employ. 

From four to eight, and, in some instances, twelve applica- 
tions of the Medicated Bougie, I generally find amply suffi 
cient. 

Cauterization, by means of Lallemand's porte-caustique, I 
have not employed in my practice in five years, it being a 
dangerous, ineffectual, and very painful application. I em- 
ploy no mineral poisons ; and well would it be for mankind, if 
others would follow the same example. (See " Ricord's 
Practice Explained/' Part I.) 



* # * All persons addressing me, will please mention, in plain 
writing, the State, County, and Town, where they wish to 
be addressed. 



CHAPTER X, 



THE CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND PATHOLOGY 
OF URINE. 

Pure urine, recently excreted by a healthy person, is trans- 
parent, of a straw color, with a peculiar odor, which disap- 
pears as the urine becomes cold. Its general temperature, 
is the natural heat of the body, which is about 97° or 98°. 
Dr. Prout, M. Spangeberg, and Dr. Simon (U.S.D.), and 
others, mention abnormal urines of a blue color ; these, how- 
ever, are rare. Professor Dulks and Dr. Hooper mention 
patients in whom it was black, and M. Yelsen another in 
whom it was a violet hue. The physical and chemical 
characters present modifications, and all vary with the na- 
ture of the food and pathological state of the system. 

The amount of water often fluctuates both in health and 
disease, especially in the latter. Urine, according to the 
chemical analyses of Dr. Marchand and Professor Lehman, 
and other eminent physiological and pathological chemists, 
consists of— 



1. Water 933-190 

2. Solid Residue .... 66-801 

3. Urea 32-675 

4. Uric Acid .... 1-065 

5 . Oxalate of Lime .... 0-100 

6. Lactic Acid . . . . 1-521 

7. Extractive Matter (nature of \ ii.nr-i 

which was not ascertained) f J - L ' iDi 

8. Mucus -283 

9. Sulphate of Potass . . . 3-587 

10. Sulphate of Soda . . . 3-213 

11. Phosphate of Soda . . • 3-056 

12. Bi-Phosphate of Ammonia • . 1-552 

13. Chloride of Sodium . . • 4-218 

14. Chloride of Ammonium . . 1-652 

15. Phosphate of Lime and Magnesia 1-210 

16. Lactates 1*618 



938-856 

61-144 

30-321 

1-001 

0-110 

1-362 

10-653 

•201 
3-201 
3-011 
2-998 
1-231 
4-001 
1-231 
1-001 
1-032 



CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 185 

The yellow coloring matter of normal urine arises from the 
actual presence of a substance called Hcemaphatin, and the 
red coloring matter to an inherent material occasionally 
found, especially in disease, denominated Urethrin ; and Dr. 
Heller has recently announced the presence, in healthy urine, 
of another pigment, TJroxanthin, which, by oxidation, be- 
comes transformed into a ruby-red matter called Urrhoidin, 
and another of a blue tint, named Uro-glaucin. 

The strong castor odor and deep color of inspissated urine ? 
is attributed by M. Scharling to a brown organic matter, 
which he calls the oxide of a new radical, termed Omichmyl. 
In addition to these constituents there have been described 
two unnamed new acids, by M. Pettinfoker and M. Heintzic ; 
and carbonic, fluoric, and hippuric acids, with creatin, are 
also components. 

According to Dr. Simon and others, bodily exercise aug- 
ments the amount of urea and the sulphates. The amount 
of urea is also increased by an excess of nitrogenous food, and 
vice versa. 

When the system becomes unhealthy from any cause (and 
especially in the diseases I have treated on in this work), then, 
as is well known, the urine changes in many of its characters, 
and includes in its chemical composition a series of abnormal 
constituents, viz., albumen, sugar, carbonate of ammonia, and 
lime, an excess of the natural mucus secreted by the internal 
coat of the bladder, pus, fibrin, fat, cystine (or a substance 
sometimes forming the sole ingredient in urinary calculi), 
and the ingredients of the blood. The urinary deposits 
known as Urinary Calculi are all morbid secretions. 

Healthy urine is not precipitated by acids, although oxalic 
acid produces a cloudiness. The free alkalies throw down 
phosphates of lime. The mucus separates in slight nebulce 
after long standing, and by continued exposure the urine 
emits an unpleasant odor, and carbonate of ammonia is 
formed, which, by precipitating the phosphate of lime and 



186 CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

ammonio-magnesian phosphates, causes turbidity. By still 
further exposure the urine becomes concentrated, and drops 
its saline constituents in crystalline forms. 

I have felt it my duty to be thus minute in the Chemistry 
of Ike Urine, which, as the reader will perceive, is a subject 
of the greatest importance in the treatment of disease. 

URINARY DEPOSITS. 

In the treatment of abuse, excess, and Spermatorrhoea, it is 
of the greatest importance that the condition of the urine 
should be inquired into, for it will generally be found com- 
plicated with unhealthy deposits, — hence it becomes necessa- 
ry to arrest not only the seminal discharges, but to correct 
the morbid condition of the urine itself. In a healthy state 
the human urine is a limpid liquor, varying in color from a 
clear yellow to a yellowish brown ; and having a salt, dis- 
agreeable and bitterish taste. When first voided, it has an 
aromatic odor ; as it cools, this leaves it, and gives place to 
a stale or urinous odor ; it varies greatly in density, and has 
an acid reaction on litmus paper. If left to itself, for several 
days, it becomes changed, throws down some salts, becomes 
alkaline, and gives out an ammoniacal and repulsive smell. 
Urine must be regarded as arising from three separate 
sources. The effects of copious potations in producing a free 
discharge of pale urine, demonstrate the important function 
of the kidneys, in freeing the economy of any excess of fluid 
which may enter into the circulation. A second great duty 
of these organs is shown in the physical and chemical 
characters of their secretion ; after digestion, it is no uncom- 
mon circumstance to detect the presence of some trace of im- 
perfectly digested food, especially in the unhealthy and 
irritable state of the digestive organs, arising from abuse, 
excess, and Spermatorrhoea. The kidneys have, therefore, 
the duty of removing, in a liquid form, any crude or undi- 
gested elements of the food which may have been absorbed 



CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 181 

into the blood, and, also, of excreting the often injurious re- 
sults of unhealthy assimilation. The third function of the 
kidneys, is that of freeing the system from those elements of 
worn-out tissues, which cannot serve any ulterior process in 
the economy, nor be got rid of by the lungs or skin. The des- 
truction of tissue here alluded to, is a necessary result of the 
growth and reparation of the body ; not a muscle contracts, 
not a gland secrets, not a thought passes through the brain, 
without involving the consumption of a portion — minute, no 
doubt — of the active organs ; the friction of living tissues is 
quite as destructive as that of an inanimate machine. 

It is admitted by all, that during each moment of our ex- 
istence every atom of the frame is undergoing some change, 
the old matter is thrown off by some of the excreting outlets 
of the body, and new matter is deposited from the blood to 
supply its place ; the old and worn-out atoms are not ex- 
creted in the form of dead tissues, but their elements be- 
come rearranged : one series thus produced, rich in nitrogen, 
is excreted by the kidneys, whilst the more highly carbonized 
products perform an important office through the medium of 
the liver, previous to their final elimination. It is therefore 
necessary to recognize three distinct varieties of the uri- 
nary secretion ; first, that passed some little time after 
drinking freely of fluids ; secondly, that secreted after the 
digestion of a full meal ; thirdly, that secreted from the blood, 
as that passed after a night's rest, which presents in per- 
fection the essential characters of urine. As the elements of 
urine owe their origin to a process by which the worn-out 
materials of the body are removed, it -may be as well to 
explain how this is accomplished. The exhausted atoms of 
the muscles cannot be removed as fibres, but their elements 
must be rearranged so as to enter the circulation, and be 
carried to other organs; they therefore undergo metamor- 
phosis. Water and oxygen are conveyed to the muscles, the 
former in the fluid of the blood, the latter in the red par- 



183 CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, k PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

tides,, and the result is the rearrangement of the elements, 
which, while it enables the old tissues to be removed with 
facility, famishes the food for other and important secretions. 
There is a beautiful system of mutual dependency in the 
animal economy ; the functions by which life is manifested 
are never accomplished singly, but combined with one anoth- 
er in the most intimate manner ; and perhaps one of the best 
examples of the harmonious action of our organs, is found in 
the relation which exists between the functions of the kidneys 
and those of the lungs. The oxygen of the arterial blood, 
as before observed, passing into the capillaries, there destroys 
by a true combustion the tissues which have become unfit 
for life, whilst the carbon and hydrogen of these tissues tend, 
at least in part, to transform themselves into carbonic acid 
and water, ultimately to be rejected by the lungs. But what 
becomes of the nitrogen ? The most simple combination 
which it could form would be that of ammonia, but as this 
body cannot exist in a state of liberty in the system without 
danger, nature causes it to undergo some modification ; for 
this purpose it has merely to be brought into contact with 
carbonic acid, and by eliminating from this combination the 
elements of water, it is transformed into urea. This princi- 
ple being inert and soluble in water, can pass without the 
least danger throughout the current of the circulation, and 
be eliminated by the kidneys. If the removal of some of 
these properties of the lungs is stopped, the circulation 
through the lungs ceases in two minutes ; the heart and brain 
are stopped, and from mechanical stoppage in the lungs, 
death ensues. If the removal of these products by the kid- 
neys is stopped, in two days the patient is poisoned ; the nerve 
and muscle are affected by the poison, and chemical death 
ensues. 

In a perfectly healthy condition of the system, when water 
is taken in large quantities, even during the process of diges- 
tion, it interferes less with the functions of the stomach than 



CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 189 

might be expected, for, by a beautiful provision, the super- 
fluous water is immediately absorbed into the blood, or passes 
downwards into the bowels. Of the portion taken into the 
blood, so much is appropriated as is required to maintain its 
fluidity, whilst the excess is expelled from the system during 
summer, principally by the skin and lungs, and during winter 
by the kidneys. But when the digestive functions are lan- 
guid, and the powers of the stomach weakened by abuse, 
excess, or Spermatorrhoea, the fluids taken remain in the 
stomach, impede digestion, and produce acidity ; under such 
circumstances the alimentary solids are either imperfectly 
digested or converted into unnatural principles ; hence, disten- 
sion, flatulency, &c, till they are ejected, or the imperfectly 
digested food escaping into the duodenum and bowels, irri- 
tates them, and deranges their functions. Nor is this all ; 
the fluid portion, impregnated with noxious principles, and 
absorbed into the blood, causes a general irritation of the 
whole system, till at last, separated, they are expelled by the 
kidneys, not, however, without serious danger to those organs, 
and in numerous cases are the cause of albuminuria and de- 
generation of the kidneys. In describing the morbid states 
of the urine, I shall confine myself exclusively to those which 
are the result of abuse, excess, and Spermatorrhoea. 

UREA. 

Urea constitutes more than half the solid matter of the 
urine ; it always occurs in solution. According to Dr. Spren- 
gel, it is secreted in greater quantites during summer than in 
the winter season ; and when present in great quantity it be- 
comes precipitated, on the addition of pure nitric acid, as ni- 
trate of urea. The entire quality of urine becoming solid, the 
crystals present a beautiful microscopic appearance, having a 
brilliant pearly lustre, and the form of croslets. 

When superabundant in quantity, it constitutes a disease, 
at the commencement of which, there is an earnest desire to 
pass urine frequently, and this is generally accompanied with 



190 CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

irritation of the neck of the bladder ; the urine itself being of 
a pale color, and of a specific gravity varying from 1.010 to 
1.030. 

There is always a sense of weight or dull pains felt in the 
back, with disinclination to bodily exertion, and uneasiness of 
the digestive organs. There is no remarkable thirst or crav- 
ing for food, but as the disease advances, the symptoms in- 
crease in severity, the countenance becoming haggard, care- 
worn, and presenting a peculiar hollow-eyed anxious expres- 
sion ; the digestive organs become more and more disordered, 
the urine is generally pale, but sometimes assumes the appear- 
ance of porter diluted with water. The patient now becomes 
emaciated, and has constant flushes of heat towards the head ; 
the hair, too, begins to fall off rapidly ; the whiskers, eye- 
brows, eyelashes, all fall off; whilst the hair of the head comes 
off in patches ; the pains in the back become more severe, 
joined with wandering pains throughout the body, accompa- 
nied with great and decreasing debility. This is consid- 
ered a rare disease ; but this will be found more apparent 
than real, for many patients do not apply for medical advice 
till the malady is merged into some other disease, of which it 
often constitutes the transition stage. 

Excess of urea is often complicated with other affections, 
which, of themselves, would never lead to the inference of 
such a morbid or unnatural state of the urine ; independently 
of its connections with certain urinary conditions, it has been 
observed to be complicated with epilepsy and other nervous 
affections, and certain forms of hysteria and nervousness ap 
proaching insanity. Such secondary complications present 
an obstinacy of character more apparent than real ; for if the 
urine be attended to, and its unnatural condition removed, 
epilepsy, hysteria, aud other nervous affections previously un- 
assailable readily give way ; therefore, in whatever circum- 
stances excess of urea may occur, either during a particular 
state of disease, or as complicated with more urgent derange- 



CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 191 

merit, it is always a symptom of much importance ; the dis- 
ease is not only obstinate, but from its deep-seated character, 
it yields with difficulty to medical treatment ; even when for 
a time it appears to give way, it is apt to return from the 
slightest cause ; and one of the most frequent terminations of 
the affection seems to be disease of the kidneys and its conse- 
quences. 

A superabundance of oxalate of lime constitutes a disease 
which is invariably a complication of Spermatorrhoea, few 
persons suffering from that disease without the presence of 
much oxalate of lime in the urine, which is generally trans- 
parent, remarkably free from sediments, of a pale citron color, 
its specific gravity about 1.020 ; the symptoms partake of a 
nervous or irritable character. Patients affected with this 
disease, are generally depressed in spirits, and when the dis- 
ease has existed for some time, much emaciated ; extremely 
nervous and painfully susceptible to external impressions, of- 
ten hypochondriacal to an extreme degree ; they complain bit- 
terly of incapacity of exerting themselves, the slightest exer- 
tion bringing on fatigue. In temper they are irritable and 
easily excited to anger ; the sexual power, as may be imag- 
ined from its complication with Spermatorrhoea, entirely ab- 
sent ; a severe and constant pain across the loins is always 
complained of, and the mental faculties are slightly affected, 
loss of memory being sometimes present ; the patient mostly 
complaining of losing flesh, health, and spirits, without any 
definite cause. In the majority of instances, the predisposing 
cause of this disease is nearly the same ; a chronic and per- 
sistent derangement of the general health, injury to the con- 
stitution by abuse, excess, Spermatorrhoea, or intemperance, 
involuntary seminal emissions, great mental anxiety produced 
by excessive attention to business, or study, or blows across 
the kidneys, or exposure of the lower part of the spine to cold, 
appear capable of producing this disease ; the detention of 
oxalate of lime in the urine may be determined in a few min- 



192 CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

utes by the aid of the microscope. From the excessive irri- 
tation of the urinary organs, caused by oxalate of lime, diseas- 
es of the kidneys, albuminuria, are no unfrequent termina- 
tions of this disease. 

THE NEWLY DISCOVERED ACIDS IN THE URINE. 

Dr. Marcet* has discovered two new acids hitherto un- 
known to chemists in the human urine ; these, as far as his 
researches have extended, are only found in the healthy state ; 
consequently, when urine is deficient of these, it stands to 
reason and common sense, that the sanitary condition of the 
constitution must be in a very " critical " condition, and de- 
monstrates the absolute necessity for patients in every disease, 
under which they may suffer, to have their urine carefully, 
microscopically, and chemically analyzed, by some skillful 
operative pathological chemist. In all cases, patients con- 
sulting me will do well to send me a small quantity of their 
urine, passed a short time before rising from their bed for the 
day, but not mixed with that voided immediately before they 
retired to rest, so that it may undergo the necessary examin- 
ation ; and by the treatment that would be pursued the cure 
will be greatly facilitated. 

One of these acids Dr. Marcet has not named, and though 
not hippuric acid, yet in many respects it bears considerable 
analogy. The second acid is a pink deposit, and has been con- 
sidered by M. Robin (of Paris) as " Urrosacine^ or the 
coloring principle of the urine, as obtained by the processes 
of Dr. Marcet and Dr. Harley.f The last two gentlemen, in 
fact, consider it as the pigment of the urine, which, on being 
burnt, evolves an odor similar to burning bone, and leaves an 
ash containing iron. Its elementary constituents are not only 
carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but also nitrogen, and are 
obviously allied to haematin, bile pigment, and melanin. 

* British, and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, vol. xi., p. 3v0. 1853. 
f Pharmaceutical Journal for November, 1852. 



CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 193 

URIC AND LITHIC ACIDS. 

Li tine and uric acids, with the urates generally, may mor- 
bidly occur in great abundance in the urine, so as to become 
sources of recent irritation, and then especially become pri- 
mary objects of attention a3 a definite disease. The general 
symptoms attending the appearance of uric acid in the 
urine, are more or less pain or uneasiness in the region of the 
kidneys, increased by pressure and bending the body, with 
irritation and a sense of heat about the neck of the bladder, 
and some slight pain at the extremity of the penis ; there is 
always a frequent desire to pass urine, which is voided in small 
quantities, and without affording the usual relief, the sensa- 
tion still continuing of something being left in the bladder ; 
the digestivs functions also are considerably deranged, and 
the patient is frequently troubled with acidity of the stomach, 
flatulency, and general uneasiness. It generally appears as 
coarse as deep orange or red sand, and in these cases, there 
is a marked tendency to the formation of calculi ; this most 
important form of disease, when existing to a great degree, 
and permitted to proceed unchecked, will almost certainly, 
sooner, or later, terminate in the formation of a stone in the 
bladder, with its attendant dangers to life. 

THE URINARY PHOSPHATES. 

The appearances presented by these deposits, vary consid- 
erably, sometimes, especially w T hen triple phosphates form ; 
the chief portions fall to the bottom of the vessel, as a 
white crystalline gravel. If but a small quantity of this 
substance is present, it will readily escape detection by re- 
maining a long time disguised in the urine. After a few hours' 
repose, some of the crystals collect on the surface, forming an 
iridescent pellicle, reflecting colored bands like a soap bub- 
ble ; they will often subsidy towards the bottom of the 
vessel, like a dense cloud of mucus, for which they are often 
mistaken, and form dense masses in the urine, hanging in 
9 ' 



194 CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

ropes like the thickest puriform mucus, from which it is 
utterly impossible ^distinguish it by the naked eye ; although 
there are chemical modes of detection, yet none can be so 
satisfactory as the examination of a few drops of the urine 
by the microscope, when the crystals may be readily recog- 
nized. Patients suffering from this disease are irritable in 
temper, and extremely restless ; the digestive organs are gen- 
erally so much disordered that emaciation, as the disease 
advances, is a constant symptom ; the patient is troubled with 
flatulency, nausea, obstinate costiveness, alternating with 
debilitating diarrhoea ; there is a constant sensation of pain 
weakness, and uneasiness in the back and loins, the counte- 
nance is sallow, with a haggard expression, fatigue is induced 
with the slightest exertion, and the mental powers are much 
weakened as the disease progresses ; all the symptoms increase 
in intensity, accompanied with an excessive elimination of 
urea, which aids considerably in depressing the patient's 
strength ; there is now added great languor and depression of 
spirits ; complete impotency, and other symptoms of extreme 
debility ; the urine is usually of low specific gravity, 1.004 
1.005, and extremely prone to decomposition. If the disease 
when once fairly established, be permitted to proceed uncheck- 
ed, the patient will be doomed to much misery, and his recovery 
will be extremely doubtful. The symptoms proceed from 
bad to worse, and the patient ultimately dies worn out with 
exhaustion. The causes of this disease are either general or 
local, aud in many cases may often be traced to some injury 
of the back, as a fall or a sprain, &c. ; the general causes are 
severe and protracted debilitating passions, abuse, excess, 
Spermatorrhoea, excessive fatigue, or irritation of the urethra, 
or bladder, or peculiar spinal affections. 

ALBUMINURIA. 

Having shown with what facility the inflammation extends 
from the urethra to the testicles, it now remains to show the 



CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 195 

effect of the inflammation extending from the urethra to the 
kidneys, by means of the urethra and the ureters, giving rise 
to albuminous disease of those organs — the inflammation 
causing a deposit in its substance, and destroying its secret- 
ing nature ; this disease is one of almost incredible frequency, 
but, unfortunately, from the slightness of the symptoms, and 
in many cases in the early stages, the absence of any symp- 
toms whatever, patients are unaware of that terrible disease 
that is slowly destroying them, and it is only to be detected 
during life, by careful study and accurate chemical research. 
Many cases of this disease have been described by the olden 
medical writers, under the name of " premature decay of na- 
ture." More recently, the albuminous condition of the urine 
has been considered the more important because the most 
frequent and easily recognized. This fatal disease may show 
itself either in an acute or chronic form ; — in its acute form 
it speedily runs its course, and destroys the patient after a 
few days' illness. In this case it is ushered in by a sudden 
coldness, attended with shivering, succeeded by a hot skin, 
nausea, vomiting, uneasiness, dull pains in the loins, with a 
scanty secretion of albuminous urine ; after a few days the 
secretion is suspended altogether, when comatose symptoms 
supervene, and death speedily ensues ; occasionally, however, 
the strength of the patient's constitution, aided by the vigor- 
ous efforts of the physician, overcome the disease, and per- 
fect recovery takes place. But even under the most favor- 
able circumstances, in the greater proportion of cases, the 
recovery is only partial, and a foundation is laid of the more 
chronic form, which indicates degeneration of the kidneys, 
the most prominent symptom of which is the voiding of a 
highly albuminous urine of low specific gravity, never ex- 
ceeding 1.010, and sometimes falling as low as 1.004. 

The accompanying symptoms have for the most part little 
reference to the kidneys ; the patient often complains of a 
weight or dull aching pain in the loins, occasional tightness 



196 CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

across the forehead, or a settled pain over one brow or tem- 
ple, which incapacitates him for any mental exertion ; the 
bladder is irritable, and there is a frequent desire to pass 
urine, which is occasionally dark colored. The countenance 
is pale and perhaps slightly swollen in the morning, particu- 
larly under the eyes, the bowels are irregular and flatulent , 
and the liver is frequently suspected to be the seat of mischief. 
In the early stages there is generally but little deviation from 
the natural standard, either in the quantity of the urine se- 
creted, or of its gravity ; or if any deviation does occur, it is 
a slight diminution, so slight that the patient hardly ever be- 
comes aware of the fact, until it is pressed on his notice. In 
the great majority of cases, this insidious disease creeps on 
slowly, yet surely, without any symptoms whatever to arouse 
the fears of the patient, causing only such trivial uneasiness 
that they are unwilling to apply for medical advice, and this 
is sought for only when it is useless, at least as far as regards 
permanent cure. 

This disease prevails at different ages, and under opposite 
conditions ; it is met with in infancy, but the chief subjects 
of the disorder are adults in the prime of life. Abuse, vene- 
real excesses, and intemperance, are powerfully exciting 
causes of this disease. From this description, it will be at 
once seen how easily these causes may be overlooked, not 
only by the patient but by the medical attendant ; when, 
therefore, cases of debility, arising from Spermatorrhoea, pre- 
sent themselves, it is of vital importance, that the urine 
should be examined, for in many cases it will be found that 
the patient has frequent desire to pass urine ; although there 
may be no pains in the loins, or swelling anywhere, albumen 
will often be found in the urine, and all the symptoms of dis- 
eased kidneys may manifest themselves in a very short 
period, even in a few hours. The pallor of anaemia, when 
seen in men, must, however, be regarded as the most common 
indication leading: to the detection of this disease, when more 



CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 19T 

prominent symptoms are wanting ; but unfortunately this is 
never observed until the disease has made great progress. 
This pallid appearance, combined with puffiness of the under 
eyelids, presents an aspect most significant to the practised 
eye ; it indicates that stage of the disease at which the drain 
of albumen has begun to inflict further mischief on the circu- 
lating fluid, by interfering with the production of the red 
corpuscles of the blood. 

When young girls, at or soon after puberty, become sub- 
jects of degeneration of the kidneys and albuminuria, the 
anaemia produced may, and too often is, mistaken and treat- 
ed for the ordinary anaemia of chlorosis ; the examination of 
the urine and detection of the albumen would be sufficient to 
correct this error, to which many valuable lives have fallen a 
sacrifice. 

Respecting the general state of the system during this dis- 
ease, and its complications, it would be well to say a few 
words. When the secreting structure of the kidneys becomes 
altered, they cease to eliminate from the system those solid 
constituents which enter into the composition of healthy 
urine ; these remaining in their elementary form in the sys- 
tem, give rise to vitiated fluids, especially of the blood, the 
valves, and nervous system ; but especially the brain is dis- 
tressed thereby, and the muscular walls of the heart, suffer 
also from its contact with the poisoned stream; thickening 
of these parts and dilatation of the cavities ensue (disease of 
the heart) , whilst the obstacles thereby presented to the free 
exit of the blood, from the right cavities through the lungs, 
gives rise to dyspnoea ; and should there be any predisposi- 
tion to consumption, this disease is rapidly produced, and 
runs its course with frightful rapidity, often even outstripping 
the disease in the kidneys, carrying off the patient. 

The liver, too, suffers, from delay in the ascent of the 
hepatic venous blood, the lobular hepatic veins becoming 
congested, and by their distention impede the circulation of 



198 CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

the portal blood, and consequently the due secretion of bile. 
The mucous coats of the stomach and small intestines be- 
come the seat of subacute inflammation ; and softening of 
this membrane, together with a depraved secretion of acidu- 
lous tendency from its surface, takes place, causing diarrhoea, 
sometimes so severe as to be the immediate cause of death. 

The great similarity in some of the symptoms of Sperma- 
torrhoea and Albuminuria, has led to frightful errors in the 
treatment of this disease, which, had the urine been properly 
examined, would never have occurred. If upon examination 
of the urine, it is found of a high specific gravity, and con- 
taining a copious deposition of albumen, it may be safely 
concluded, that the disease is in its earlier stages. But on 
the other hand, if the urine presents faint traces of albumen, 
and continues of a low specific gravity, then most assuredly, a 
partial obliteration of the secreting portion of the kidneys 
has taken place ; even under these unfavorable circumstances 
it may be reasonably anticipated, that a considerable portion 
of the organ remains in a state which is capable of restora- 
tion, more or less complete, as long as the tubes are unde- 
stroyed — if they have perished, the attempt must be unavail- 
ing ; every effort, therefore, should be made to prevent the 
degeneration advancing further — to repair as far as possible 
the damage that has been done — and although this may not 
always be effected, it may make all the difference to the pa- 
tient between an early death and many years of tolerable 
comfort and enjoyment. 

DIABETES. 

There are two varieties of this disease : 1. Diabetes In- 
sipidus, in which there is a superabundant discharge of 
limpid urine, of its usual urinary taste, odor, color, and 
chemical constituents. But by far the most serious, as well as 
the most prevalent, species is, 2. Diabetes Mellitus, in which 
the urine is very sweet, and contains a great quantity of 



CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 199 

sugar, of both the color and taste of honey. This variety 
of the disease may be caused by the improper use of strong 
diuretic medicines, as for example, balsam of copaiva ; also 
from excessive sexual intercourse, severe evacuations, or by 
anything that tends to produce an impoverished state of the 
blood or general debility. It has, however, been proved by 
myself, and subsequently by Dr. Robert Hooper, to have 
taken place without any obvious cause. 

In this formidable disease, the urine is always secreted 
more abundantly than in a state of health, even to several 
gallons daily, and also contains much grape sugar ; it is 
generally transparent, of a pale straw color, and has a pecu- 
liar faint smell resembling sweet hay ; its specific gravity 
varies from 1.020 to 1.050. The patients have an increased 
appetite, uneasiness in the stomach, urgent thirst, the mouth 
dry, the tongue parched and red, depraved thirst, the skin 
dry, considerable emaciation, loss of strength, pain and 
weakness across the loins, the bowels costive and irregular, 
slight inflammation generally about the orifice of tie urethra, 
impotence, acid eructations, flatulence, eyes painful and vision 
indistinct, vertigo, listlessuess, languor, spirits greatly de- 
pressed — such are the symptoms of this dreadful disease. 
Some pathologists think that it is much more frequently in- 
herited than acquired ; the disease attacks frequently indi- 
viduals of a sanguine temperament, with light or reddish hair, 
and next to these the melancholic, rather than those of the other 
temperaments ; but it attacks in its most unmanageable and 
fatal form, persons of a scrofulous habit, with dark eyes and 
hair, and fair skin. Those individuals who are of a shattered 
constitution, and who are in the decline of life, are very liable 
to this form of disease. 

Although the detection of this formidable disease is any- 
thing but difficult, yet it is extraordinary that it is seldom 
suspected, until it has advanced to its most inveterate and 
confirmed stages, when a cure becomes almost hopeless. The 



200 CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY, & PATHOLOGY OF URINE. 

cause of this disease is a failure in the assimilating process, by 
which the starch of the food is applied to maintain the heat of 
the body; for this purpose, it has to undergo a series of chemical 
changes ; first assuming two equivalents of water it becomes 
grape sugar, and is absorbed into the blood ; here it under- 
goes a further change into lactic acid, and this combines with 
twelve atoms of oxygen to form carbonic acid and water — 
this last change is a process of combustion, and thus produces 
the heat of the body. 

In this disease, therefore, the process stops at the formation 
of grape sugar ; this cannot be put to any use in the body, 
and is, therefore, excreted as fast as it is formed, and as it 
requires fourteen equivalents of water to hold it in solution, 
the body is robbed of its fluid for this purpose ; which is the 
cause of the almost inextinguishable thirst with which the 
patient is affected. 

Of the powerful influence of abuse, excess, or Spermator- 
rhoea, in producing this disease, it is only necessary to refer 
to the shattered condition of the nervous system that ensues 
from these causes. It is by the action of the nerves that 
these various changes take place, and when the nerves cease 
to perform their functions properly, this disease may and often 
does occur. Of the fatal termination of diabetes, consump- 
tion may be considered by far the most frequent, to which 
may be added diseases of the liver, apoplexy, and lastly, al- 
buminuria ; indeed, diabetes is a disease in which life may be 
said to hang upon a thread, for many circumstances, of no 
moment in themselves, or in a healthy state of the system, 
prove fatal in this disease, in many cases producing sinking, 
from which patients never rally. 



CHAPTER XI 



SUMMARY OF THE 

$feto Jtweriran tatawrf fax §fytxmbm\m t &t. t 

By means of the Author's Medicated Bougie, the Veratrum 
Viride, Spirit. Formic, Iodine, and their Auxiliaries. 

In the preceding pages, we have seen that the only " scien- 
tific " treatment heretofore adopted by the medical profession 
in seminal diseases was cauterization, or the application of 
Nitrate of Silver (lunar caustic) to the months of the seminal 
ducts, at their points of entrance within, and far up the 
urethra (see note to page 77), and which was done to " cure 
the inflammation " upon which this disease was supposed to de- 
pend. But, as mentioned elsewhere, the proper object, is to 
restore the power of Retention and Contractility of these 
ducts throughout their entire course, not merely- their orifices 
or mouths ; which, by their nervous relaxation, allow the 
semen involuntarily to flow into the urethera, as clearly ex- 
plained on page 77, to which the reader is referred. 

To place the subject in the clearest possible light, on 
account of its vast importance to the afflicted, and to enable 
the reader to form for himself an accurate idea as to the 
efficiency of the mode of treatment of Lallemand, and the 
likelihood it presents of effecting the object desired, it is 
necessary to understand fully what comprises the caustic 
method ; afterwards, that we direct our attention to the 
mode in which it is said by its advocates and practitioners 
to act ; and, finally, that we enquire into the truth of the 
matter, whether it really does or does not perform those cures 
which it professes to accomplish. 
9* 



202 NEW AMERICAN TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 

Those who have read the foregoing pages of this book, 
have seen that the act of self-pollution, by the unnatural and 
excessive use of the organ wherein the orifices of the seminal 
ducts or vesicalce seminales are placed, causes them so to 
dilate and relax in turn, that their firmness and elasticity 
become by degress impaired, and are finally for the time 
being destroyed, and refuse to fulfill their natural function, 
suffering the seminal fluid, in consequence, to escape and 
pass away with the urine through the urinary passage. Now 
the cause of the relaxation of the semilunar valves,* which 
check the waste of this vitally-important essence or constitu- 
ent of the bodily economy, is to be explained only in the 
circumstance that the continuity of that excitement, and its 
violent character, which have so destroyed the tone and 
functions of the vesculoe seminales and seminiferous tubes, 
have, at the same time, undermined, and to a greater or less 
degree destroyed, the Nervous Circulation of these organs, 
the cerebellum and its spinal nerves ; by attacking them at 
their very source of heat and life, and thereby depriving them 
of that due amount of sensibility sufficient to afford that 
action upon these valves and ducts necessary to confine the 
seminal juices during their elaboration, and retain them in 
their natural reservoirs. 

According to the theory of Lallemand, and the partisans 
of cauterization, " the seminal ducts require to be constring- 
ed or forcibly contracted before they can be brought to that 
tone and action necessary to establish a state of health." 
But this would be effecting only a mere mechanical result, 
not curing the " inflammation, 1 ' surely, upon which the disease 
is said, by these hasty experimentalists, to depend. No ; the 
theory being wrong, so must the treatment upon which it 
is based be also wrong. And such is the case. Notwith- 
standing all this array of demonstrable and incontrovertible 

* Folds occurring in the lining of the seminiferous tubes, throughout their 
whole extent. 



NEW AMERICAN TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 203 

facts, that surgeon and theorist introduces an instrument so 
filled with lunar caustic that the urethra and mouths of the 
ducts become effectively burnt by its application to them ; a 
cure being supposed to be obtainable by this absurd and 
excruciating means ! 

After a long term of years' experience in the treatment of 
Spermatorrhoea by this method. I am not of opinion, however, 
that to be effectively burnt is at all synonymous with being 
effectively cured ; neither do I believe that those who have 
been induced to be thus experimented upon, have often, if 
they have ever at all, to their satisfaction, found the two terms 
to be in even tolerable agreement either with each other, or 
with themselves and their own feelings. The cause lies deep- 
er, than can be effectually reached and touched by caustic ; to 
perform a cure, the cause — want of healthy action in the 
Sexual Nervous Circulation — must be removed beyond re- 
turn : radically, permanently, and satisfactorily. 

Now the patient's cure cannot be said to be complete, 
without bestowing on the little brain (cerebellum), spinal 
nerves, and the ducts or vessels that contain and pass the 
semen, such a restoration of their primitive tone as they 
originally enjoyed, and a full regaining of the waste that has 
occurred throughout the progress of the malady, as well as 
that which had been dissipated in those acts of self-pollution 
which were its inducing cause. And this is of itself so plain, 
so obvious to the sense of every unprejudiced mind, 
that it does not require of me, from the accumulated proofs 
thereof which my experience has furnished of its truth, the 
multiplying of instances as to that which common sense and 
ordinary perceptions render clear to every one, namely : that 
this principle of my practice is the only true, and natural mode 
of banishing disease in this particular, and strengthening the 
debilitated organs of the self-abused ; a principle that goes at 
once down to the very foundations of the delapidated structure 
— restoring, renovating, building up anew, and otherwise 
even enlarging upon the original edifice. 



204: NEW AMERICAN TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 

Nor is the effect of this same principle tardy in deniQnsta- 
ting to the patient its results ; for these are speedily exhibited 
in the joyfully-hailed return of happy thoughts and glad sen- 
sations, of hopes and confidences long strangers to the afflicted 
breast ; creating such a halo around the future, as induces those 
who were desponding, to look with eagerness and faith upon 
the bright and joyous side of nature ; casting no furtive glance 
at cloudy melancholy and misty dispair, that now are vanish- 
ing behind them, as the sunny beams of health spread their 
joyous influence ever around their hearts! Could such 
a consummation as is here described, and which again and 
again has been realized by those who have been under my 
care, have invariably taken place, save as the natural results 
of a system founded strictly upon truth ? Certainly not. 
But the best evidence of its correctness is the fact of there 
being authentic cases enough on record in my practice, in 
which the Medicated Bougie has been, in connection with 
the constitutional treatment, perfectly successful. 8 

The danger and protracted pain always attending cauteri- 
zation (many deaths having occurred), "in consequence of 
false passages through the spongy substance of the urethra 
into the cavernous or cellular bodies constituting the body 
of the penis, and the frequent failures that constantly occur 
in this mode of treatment, have induced many philosophical 
minds in the profession to search for a more prompt, less dan- 
gerous, and more certain or efficient remedy." This great 
desideratum was finally discovered in the Medicated Bougie, 
a medico-mechanical improvement, now well known as " Dr. 
Hammond's New American Treatment for the Cure of Sperma- 
torrhoea and its Results" which, after a severe test of several 
years, in many hundreds of cases, has been made public, for 
the appreciation of the afflicted, and for their benefit. 

This little instrument, which is not larger than a medium- 
sized ordinary bougie, though of different construction, is, 
under skillful management, very efficient ; it can be passed 



NEW AMERICAN TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 205 

along the urethra to the seminal vessels, almost without pain, 
where the medication is directly applied, and by capillary ac- 
tion made to permeate the entire course of the ducts : thus pro- 
ducing adequate contraction and powerful invigoration, and 
imparting in an eminent degree the most desirable of all ob- 
jects, namely, perfect Kevitalizatiox of the seminal appara- 
tus, without the dangerous and painful concomitants attend- 
ing the employment of cauterizing, and other improper 
instruments. 

During the trial of the great India rubber case, a few 
months ago, one of the learned counsel made the following 
truthful observation : " Let some one to-day initiate a new 
enterprise, or produce a new and valuable invention ; straight- 
way, on every side, spring up countless imitators. The new 
man's ideas are stolen, his work counterfeited, and then, by a 
degree of sublime audacity altogether unprecedented, it is 
claimed wholly, and he is deprived of even the credit, to say 
nothing of the profit of his labors." And it is for this addi- 
tional reason — see another and more cogent one in Note to 
the Yeratrum Yiride, at the front part of this book — that 
the author has deemed it proper to decline, for the present, 
entering into a detailed explanation of the modus operandi 
by which his ^Etherized Preparations of the a*bove-mentioned 
remedy, Iodine, <fcc, <fec, are combined with their appropri- 
ate auxiliaries (or medicines which modify the action of other 
medicines), by means of an entirely new application and 
adaptation of the principles of modern chemical science : and 
the same reasoning equally applies respecting a more circum- 
stantial description of the author's Medicated Bougie. 
" The laborer is worthy of his hire ;" and when, at some fu- 
ture day, he (the author) shall have received due compensa- 
tion for the products of his labor, he will, he trusts, know 
how further to discharge his duty to humanity, and to the 
cause of medical science, for the advancement of which he 
has been so long and so arduously engaged. 



206 NEW AMERICAN TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 

The Medicated Bougie is not only perfectly safe, but can 
be resorted to without preventing any one from attending to 
his ordinary affairs. Although the involuntary emissions, both 
nocturnal and diurnal, are far more speedily removed or pre- 
vented by this very ingenious method, thereby accelerating the 
cure of the disease very materially, and ensuring a thorough 
and permanent restoration in much less time ; still, as men- 
tioned in the preliminary chapter, I do not wish it to be in- 
ferred that I advocate the Medico-Mechanical treatment as 
indispensable to the cure of' these diseases, by any means. I 
only claim for it great superiority over all other local means 
of cure — the exclusive internal or constitutional treatment 
herein laid down, although much slower in its action, being 
none the less sure on that account, even though the Bougie 
be not used at all. 

To those residing at a distance, with whom time, leaving 
home or business, are objects of great consideration, the au- 
thor would say, that inasmuch as the introduction of the Bougie 
may take place at intervals of from four to six days each, 
a patient can leave the city on the same day that the appli- 
cation of the instrument is made, and return again once a 
week, so that but little loss of time, or only a temporary ab- 
sence from home would be necessary. In most instances, the 
cure of Spermatorrhoea is effected by the foregoing medico- 
mechanical and constitutional treatment, in from four to eight 
weeks ; while the length of time required in chronic or obsti- 
nate cases, varies according to the state of individual circum- 
stances. 

From the preceding remarks, it will be seen what the cause 
is of these exhausting seminal losses ; also, that the Treat- 
ment recommended is a perfectly sound one, (which is proved 
by testimonials from many hundreds of private patients, some 
of whom allow reference to be made to them). Not the 
least of its advantages, is the invariable success attending it, 
its perfect safety, in competent hands, and the circumstance 
that it can be employed without the knowledge of any other 



NEW AMERICAN TREATMENT OF SPERMATORRHOEA. 20 7 

person than the patient, through the medium of his surgeon. 
How many young men have borne their affliction in silence 
and despair, without applying for medical aid, through fear 
of exposure or injury, not knowing who to trust to aid them 
in their dire calamity. 

That medicine alone is competent not only to stop these 
losses, which the improvement, however, above alluded to 
effectually accomplishes in much less time, but to invigorate 
the whole nervous and muscular systems, broken down by 
years of suffering, I desire the patient distinctly to understand. 
Judiciously selected and properly prepared Tonics and Ner- 
vines, are of extraordinary benefit to the cerebellum and spi- 
nal nerves, especially in cases where the constitution is at all 
shaken or debilitated ; and the resinous preparations, duly 
combined with the Yeratrum Viride, Spts. Formic, Iodine, 
and their auxiliaries, in suitably-arranged and nicely-gradua- 
ted doses, in accordance with individual peculiarities of con- 
stitution, I have ever found to be fully adequate to the cure 
of Spermatorrhoea, and all other Seminal and Nervous dis- 
eases, in due course of time. But the subtle and otherwise 
peculiar action of these medicines, causes the intelligent and 
wisely-prudent patient to take competent advice before re- 
sorting to their use. The auxiliaries which I find especially 
to harmonize with the three remedies just mentioned, are 
those so highly recommended by the best French surgeons, 
as Ricord, Cullerier, Desruelles, &c, (the English treat- 
ment for these complaints having hitherto proved futile), 
and are, therefore, all embraced in my practice ; thus the 
afflicted may be cured of their complaints permanently, and 
upon reasonable terms. 

CONCLUSION. 

These diseases of the genito-urinary organs run into one 
another by such insensible degrees, that unless carefully 
watched, it too often happens that two serious diseases are 
established instead of one, each exasperating the other, and 



208 CONCLUSION. 

adding greatly to the difficulty to be encountered in curing 
either. For the detection of Spermatorrhoea, the micro- 
scope is imperatively necessary ; by its aid it is always easy 
(if the examination is carefully conducted) to detect the pres- 
ence of seminal fluid in the urine by the Spermatozoa it con- 
tains. For this purpose, the author has merely to receive 
the urine in a flat, ounce vial, the animalcule being specifical- 
ly heavier than the urine sink to the bottom ; the fluid should 
then be decanted, and the deposit carefully examined by a 
powerful Chevalier microscope. Although many writers on 
this subject would have it believed that they can be instantly 
detected, I have frequently, in cases of Spermatorrhoea, found 
it exeeedingly difficult, even with this powerful instrument, 
many hours being required for that purpose. The refractive 
power of the Spermatozoa being generally the same as the 
fluid in which they are contained, the light traverses the 
whole, and the mass appears homogeneous. But there is 
another cause for the extreme difficulty of detection. When 
the seminal fluid becomes watery, the animalcule are often 
a fourth of the natural size, and the tails become shorter, and 
are with the greatest difficulty distinguished, even with an 
eighth of an inch object glass. When once, however, their 
presence is distinguished, the treatment becomes easy ; but, 
as before observed, there may be another disease present. 
For this purpose, I require a small phial, filled with the urine 
passed on rising in the morning (urina sanguinis), which 
should be put in the phial as soon as passed, and well corked 
up. This quantity is sufficient for the purpose. It may be 
as w T ell here to explain my method of examining the samples 
of urine sent me — first I test its taste with regard to acidity, 
then its specific gravity. If the urine is of low specific 
gravity, the probability is that albumen exists, and that there 
is a disease of the kidneys. If the urine is of high specific 
gravity, then the presence of sugar is suspected, and that the 
disease is diabetes. Having determined the specific gravity 
and acidity, a drop of urine with the sediment is examined 



CONCLUSION. 209 

carefully with the microscope — Spermatozoa, pus, mucus, 
blood, fibrinous casts, uric acid, oxalate of lime, or earthy 
phosphates, may or may not be found. The drop of urine 
is then left to dry ou the glass for twelve hours, and is then 
again examined. Sugar or urea may then be seen. The 
bottle, after standing twelve hours to settle, is again ex- 
amined — uric acid, blood, pus, and phosphates may then 
sometimes be seen by the naked eye. 

If from this examination pus is suspected to be present, 
the liquor potassoe will at once resolve the question by pro- 
ducing ropiness. If fibrinous casts are seen, or adhesive 
matter forms on the glass, the urine is then filtered, and tested 
both by heat and chemically for albumen. If sugar is sus- 
pected, the necessary tests to solve that question are used. 
Should Spermatozoa be present, then the disease, whatever 
its complications may be, is Spermatorrhoea. If blood is 
present, does it proceed from disease of the kidneys, or from 
calculus ? This momentous question can alone be solved by 
the microscope. If, by its aid, fibrinous moulds of the ducts 
of the kidneys are found with the blood, there can be no 
doubt it is caused by congestion of the cortical structure of 
the kidneys, and that the disease is albuminuria ; but if uric 
acid or oxalate of lime crystals are found with the blood, 
without the presence of fibrinous casts,, then most probably a 
calculus is present in one of the kidneys, and to the abrasion 
caused by its presence is the blood in the urine due. By this 
scientific analysis, I am qualified to form a decided opinion, 
what instructions should accompany that opinion for the par- 
ticular case, &c. 

It is highly desirable that parties who wish a thorough 
and permanent cure, should pass urine, and send it in a f.at 
phial, per express or mail, prepaid, when the author will make 
his chemical and microscopical examination; as it is impossible 
to attach too much importance to a careful examination of 
the urine in all cases of Spermatorrhoea. Of this he has, 
unfortunately, had too many opportunities of judging. 



210 AN IMPORTANT CASE. 

Read the following case : 

An Important Case. — A short time since a gentleman sent me a 
sample of urine to examine, and a statement of his case, which was 
very distressing. He observed that he had been under the treatment 
of several medical men, and had taken nearly all the advertised medi- 
cines without deriving the slightest benefit ; was nearly killed with 
mercury ; that he was gradually getting worse and worse, constantly 
oppressed with headache of a most distressing kind, singing in the 
ears, and dizziness ; was extremely low spirited and nervous, with a 
general feeling of inward decay. He writes, " I pass urine, I think, 
rather too frequently ; of its composition you will be able to judge, al- 
though I do not think you will find it unhealthy, for I have had it ex- 
amined before/' On testing the sample of urine sent, I found it acid, 
of low specific gravity, 1.004, and on examining a drop of the sediment 
by the microscope, I discovered some blood corpuscles, fibrinous casts, 
and epithelium. I then filtered a portion of the urine, and tested it 
both by heat and acid, when I discovered, in both instances, faint traces 
of albumen only, from which circumstance I judged that degener- 
ation of the kidneys had made some considerable progress. Here was 
a case in which the life of the patient might hang on the turn of a few 
hours. The question was, was there sufficient of the secreting struc- 
ture of the kidneys still left undestroyed to carry on the functions of 
life, or were they so far destroyed that a few hours would terminate 
the disease ? I wrote, recommending him to place himself under the 
care of . the most skillful medical gentleman in the town in which he 
resided. The after description of his case I owe to the kindness of his 
father, who furnished me with the particulars. At first, he appeared 
to get much better for a fortnight ; at the expiration of that time he 
was observed to be heavy and stupid ; his lips and tongue became 
parched ; his urine was dark and muddy (no doubt from the presence 
of blood) ; he was then seized with obstinate vomiting, the urine be- 
came darker and less in quantity, and although every effort that skill 
could make was made, he gradually became comatose, and died with- 
out a struggle. The case at the time made a great impression on me, 
for it could not be doubted that if the patient's urine had been proper- 
ly examined, the disease to which he fell a victim might have been 
readily detected. In that case, how different the termination might 
have been ; for at that period, no doubt, much of the secreting struc- 
ture of the kidneys was capable of restoration, sufficient to carry on 
the purposes of life ; therefore, had the detection taken place when 
the patient first sought medical advice, there can be no doubt that 
many years of life were obtainable for him. 



CHAPTER XII 



LIST OF A FEW CASES, 

SUCCESSFULLY TREATED BY MEANS OF THE MEDICATED BOUGIE 
AND OTHER ADJUNCTS. 



EXTRACTS FROM CASE-BOOK. 

Case 167 — A young man, 21, who had indulged in secret vice 
for two years, and was fast going into a consumption. Cured in three 
weeks. 

Case 171. — A minister from the South, who, through over study and 
various excesses, brought on a continual weakness, and totally inca- 
pacitated him for marriage. Cured in six weeks, and is now the fa- 
ther of two beautiful children. 

Case 178. — A young man, 23 years of age, of afpalejand consumptive 
appearance. At the age of 16, he had fallen into the destructive hab- 
it of self-abuse, and had pursued that practice in perfect ignorance of 
its baneful effects. His health and strength had been for two or three 
years gradually giving way, but he had only recently discovered that 
his own folly was the cause of it. He cow almost entirely discontin- 
ued the habit for some months, and although he thinks he has ceased 
to grow any worse, his health had not improved. 

Present Symptoms. — Occasional nocturnal emissions, and a fre- 
quent oozing of mucous matter from the urethra, especially when 
straining at stool. An almost constant sensation of languor and de- 
bility—dimness of sight — palpitation of the heart, nervousness, and 
timidity— a short cough and frequent pains in the chest — bowels very 
irregular, the faeces being often knotty and frothy — mental depression 
and anxiety to a very painful extent, fits of melancholy coming on in 
the midst of the most agreeable society, especially since the discovery 
of his impotency, which makes him feel " like a nonentity and an out- 
cast,*' especially in female society. 

Case 179.— A retired merchant, troubled with nightly emissions, 
pains in the loins and back, specks floating before the eyes, and com- 



212 LIST OF A FEW CASES SUCCESSFULLY TREATED. 

plete prostration of the whole animal economy. He came under my 
care, and within fourteen days the patient wrote that he felt a decided 
improvement, and he continued gradually to amend during several 
weeks, when imprudently testing his virile powers, he caught a violent 
gonorrhoea, the cure of which delayed the case for nearly a 
month. Notwithstanding this drawback, in about two months from 
commencing he considered himself fully cured — the gloom which 
overshadowed his mind had been entirely dispelled, he felt his intel- 
lect clear and vigorous, his feelings had acquired a warm and whole- 
some tone, and his physical powers were in every respect those of a 
sound and healthy man. Although the patient had more than paid 
for his treatment, by remittances as the case went on, he sent a hand- 
some token in testimony of his gratitude, and continues to this day to 
correspond with me whenever he happens to have occasion for ad- 
vice. It is pleasant to be handsomely paid, but it is to me a source of 
much higher gratification, that so many of my patients continue for 
years to correspond with me, when, from accident, or indiscretion, or 
from the ordinary ^wear and tear of life, they have again occasion for 
my assistance. 

Case 203.— A gentleman thirty-five years of age, married, and having 
three children, had during the last year or two experienced a decay of 
strength and general decline of health. His virile powers especially had 
failed, the erections had become imperfect ; desire having in a great 
measure left him, and occasional emissions taking place in his sleep. 
These irregularities he attributed to a former indulgence in the prac- 
tice of onanism, which, however, (having from an early age been in 
the habit of frequent intercourse with females) , he had not practised 
to such an extent as very materially to injure his virile powers at the 
time, but the premature approach of senility now warned him that 
the evil habit had not been without its effects upon the system. In 
four weeks, he wrote that, as regarding his general health, he had not 
been so well for years, and that he felt both the desire and the powei\ 
for sexual enjoyments fully restored to him. 

Case 326 — A gentleman, twenty-six years of age, had been of an 
extremely amorous temperament from childhood, and having facilities 
for indulgence, had for many years rioted in excess ; often for months 
together averaging twenty times per week. Recently his powers had 
to a considerable extent failed him. His desire was almost as strong 
as ever, but the emission took place too rapidly to admit of connection. 
He had some symptoms which both alarmed and annoyed him, such 
as a sensation of somethmg floating before his eyes — a frequent giddi- 
ness or stupor, and a pain at the lower part of the back of the head- 



LIST OF A FEW CASES SUCCESSFULLY TREATED. 213 

He had been under medical treatment, and had taken alteratives and 
a great variety of tonic medicines, but without the sightest possible 
benefit ; indeed, some of the symptoms appeared to be aggravated, es- 
pecially the pain at the back of the head, which has become very 
alarming. 

Case 338.— This was a very melancholy case ; the sufferer had been 
guilty of some irregularities in his youth, but had married at the age of 
thirty. Five years afterwards he lost his wife, and subsequently he 
relapsed into his former bad habits, the consequence of which was, 
that his health gradually declined, and he not only lost all virile pow- 
er, but became a prey to continual devouring melancholy. He stated 
that the idea of suicide was continually present to his mind, insomuch 
that it was with great difficulty he had prevented himself from em- 
bracing opportunities which appeared favorable for the purpose of 
self-destruction. He stated his appearance to be healthy — that he was 
what is considered a good-looking man, and that his mind had been a 
good deal agitated by the fact of a rich widow having taken a fancy 
to him ; but knowing that in his debilitated condition matrimony 
would only involve him in trouble and embarrassment of a delicate 
and most perplexing character, he was compelled to desist from em- 
bracing an opportunity which would otherwise have materially bet- 
tered his prospects in life ; his own circumstances being by no means 
prosperous. He stated that his liver was very sluggish, and his diges- 
tion bad, and that he was frequently subject to pains in the stomach 
and loins, headache, giddiness, and other disagreeable symptoms. He 
had been under the treatment of several advertising men, as well as 
of a regular practitioner in his own neighborhood, but without any 
decided benefit ; and now, having determined to try once and only 
once more, expressed his firm determination that if my instrument 
did not in a very few weeks produce satisfactory symptoms of amend- 
ment, he would, by his own act, relieve himself from miseries which 
he could no longer endure. He further begged that I would not give 
him mercury in any form whatever, for he had recently been almost 
poisoned with it, and would rather die than take another grain, as he 
felt convinced that it had aggravated, and might still further aggra- 
vate his disorder. 

Case 209. — A gentleman, twenty-seven years of age, had been 
brought up with the most strict regard to virtue and purity, and stated 
that he had never been guilty of any irregularities— had been mar- 
ried a few days previously, and was greatly shocked to find himself 
incompetent to the enjoyment of marital pleasures. Felt very much 
embarrassed, and implored a speedy remedy. General health very 



214 LIST OF A FEW CASES SUCCESSFULLY TREATED. 

good, and was not aware of any reason for his inefficiency, except oc- 
casional nocturnal emissions in dreams. 

Case 301. — Thirty years of age ; had for some ten years led a very 
dissipated life, was now very much emaciated — the eyes sunk and 
countenance dejected — was formerly a young man of high spirits and 
cheerful temper, but now completely broken down, melancholy, and 
miserable in the extreme — complained of dull heavy pains in the head 
and various parts of the body, great weakness, especially about the 
loins, and was fatigued with the slightest exertion. Pain in discharg- 
ing the urine, great irregularity of the bowels, and frequent nausea 
and loathing of food, skin dry and constricted, but sometimes cold, 
clammy perspiration, with other symptoms, clearly indicating the 
commencement of tabes dorsalis.* About two years before he had 
been under the treatment of an advertising practitioner, who had sent 
him a quantity of mercurial pills, not only without proper instructions, 
but falsely stating that no mercury was contained in them. The con- 
quences had been disastrous, for from that time he dated the break- 
ing-up of his constitution. Sooner or later his own course of life must 
have brought on that catastrophe; but no doubt the excess of mercury 
not only hastened the event, but also greatly aggravated the symptoms. 



As illustrating the sad effects of a thoughtless sensuality, and the 
beneficial results of analyzation of the urine, a few cases are here ad- 
ded which have fallen under immediate notice. To prevent any 
unpleasant feeling on so delicate a subject, no initials, names, or dates 
are given. 

Case . — " I have lately contracted a very bad complaint, and am 
afraid I have been improperly treated here, as I feel great uneasiness 
in my lower regions, as also an appearance of secondary symptoms — 
throat very sore — spit a great deal— and my skin much pimpled. 
Knowing your great skill in these cases, I now abandon myself to you, 
and shall be glad of your advice and assistance per return of post. 
Enclosed is your usual fee." 

Case — " In reply to your letter of the 8th, I now forward you a 
bottle of my fasting urine, and shall be glad if you will promptly at- 
tend to my case, as I feel very great uneasiness, and am most anxious 
to be cured. Enclosed please find $5." 

Case . — " Your very skillful and valuable assistance has perfectly 
cured me, and I feel as well as ever I did. I can assure you I truly 
appreciate the very prompt manner in which you replied to my former 

* Spinal Consumption. 



LIST OF A FEW CASES SUCCESSFULLY TREATED. 215 

communications. I shall always retain a lively and grateful remem- 
brance of you. Accept my most respectful regards." 

Case " I did not believe it possible you could so thoroughly 

understand my case, and effect so perfect a cure through simply ana- 
lyzing my urine. Such, however, is the case, and I sincerely thank 
you for the same. Living in a small town at a distance from New 
York, closely confined to business through the week, I could not pos- 
sibly have waited upon you for a personal examination, and should 
not have known what to do had not a friend placed in my hand one 
of your pamphlets, which first induced me to address you." 

Case . — " In reply to your kind inquiries as to the efficacy of the 
medicines which you sent me after analyzing my urine, I have now the 
great satisfaction to state that they have far exceeded my most san- 
guine expectations, and must apologize for not letting you know the 
result earlier. I could not have supposed the lapse of so short a peri- 
od would have effected in my constitution such wonderful changes. My 
health is decidedly improved ; I can eat with a hearty appetite, and 
the sickness after meals has entirely left me. The throbbing in my 
neck and chest has abated ; my eyelids are not so red and inflamed 
as they were ; my sight is stronger, and I am not now disgraced with 
spots and pimples on my skin. I expect to be in town in a few days, 
when I will call upon you." 



Tfie following letters are from a gentleman icho deemed himself in- 
curable. 
" Enclosed you will receive $5, your fee for an analyzation of urine. 
I also send you a sample* of my fasting urine for analyzation, and 
shall feel deeply indebted if you can prevent the emissions when void- 
ing urine. I formerly was troubled with them in the night, but they 
have now ceased, owing, I think, to the gradual waste in the day. I 
am afraid I am becoming impotent, as I feel my powers very feeble, 
and my general health much impaired. I have taken your medicines 
and received benefit, but as it is of the utmost consequence that I 
should be speedily cured, as I am engaged to be married, and have 
been once compelled to postpone that event in consequence of my dis- 
ease, I shall now feel very grateful if you can effect a cure in me soon. 
My anxiety is great, I can assure you, as I have been informed by 
medical men that my case is incurable, but finding I derived so much 
benefit from your treatment, I am encouraged further to solicit your 
assistance and advice. Please, therefore, reply per return of post." 

* In a small flat ounce vial, packed in a soda-powder box with cotton, to 
prevent breakage. 



216 LIST OF A FEW CASES SUCCESSFULLY TREATED. 

" In reply to your favor of 6th instant, I beg to inform you that I 
was married three weeks ago, and feel myself perfectly cured. 
Should any unfavorable symptoms present themselves, I will instant, 
ly send you word ; and, whether or not, will now and then drop you 
a line as to my health, &c. 

" Some time since I promised to write to you respecting my health, 
&c. I feel very glad that it continues good. I have no fear for the 
future, and to add to my gratification, I am now the father of a fine 
boy. Past favors ought not to be forgotten ; I therefore send you the 
above gratifying intelligence." 



" I beg to inform you that your treatment has entirely stopped the 
nocturnal emissions I was for a number of years so seriously harassed 
with. It is now upwards of two years since I left off the use of those in- 
vauable medicines procured from you for the suppression of the noctur- 
nal emissions, and I have not had a single emission since ; and the 
pain in the back and loins has entirely left me. I now feel quite 
strong and well." 



" Broken slumbers, and oftentimes sleepless nights are now gone, gone 
forever, thanks to your excellent and skillful treatment. What I have 
suffered through that baneful practice, self-abuse, no one but those 
who have practiced it can imagine. I was becoming quite a skeleton ; 
I had neither relish for food, nor liking for society ; bashful, forget- 
ful, and altogether very nervous ; my mind so disturbed with lascivi- 
ous dreams, and such provoking ideas so continually afloat in my im- 
agination, that my brain was frequently bewildered. I may truly say 
that at times I was fit to commit any rash act — my life began to be a 
complete burden to me. I had become quite an object of disgust to 
myself, and fancied I was also to others. When, by accident, I read 
your advertisement, I immediately applied to you and followed your 
instructions, and am now sound and well. 

" I am quite satisfied that no one need despair of a cure, if they will 
only be guided by your valuable counsel and advice. 

" Your obliged and obedient servant." 



" Before I had recourse to your advice and medicines, I was sorely 
troubled with retention of urine and a thin discharge. I do not know 
whether these were caused through early errors or from natural debil- 
ity, neither do I care, since I am effectually cured. No other medi" 
cines I tried had any effect whatever on my complaint." 



QUERIES, ETC. 21 T 

($WLXU8 f $t. 

THOSE WHO WISH ADVICE 
Or Medical Treatment from the author, will be good 
enough to answer the following queries on the first applica- 
tion, so as to save time and unnecessary trouble or delay, and 
thus put him in possession of the exact symptoms of their 
case, to ensure prompt and successful treatment : — At what 
age did you begin the habit of self-abuse, how often in- 
dulged in, how long continued, and if abandoned, how long 
since ? Is your constitution much weakened ? Are you ner- 
vous and irritable ? Have you shortness of breath — palpi- 
tation of the heart ? Does the sight or thought of females af- 
fect your sexual propensities unduly ? If you have emissions, 
how often, and do they weaken you ? Do you have any heat 
or unnatural feeling, tingling, fullness, or other trouble in the 
genital organs ? If you have connection with a female, do 
you have an emission too soon, and do you experience satisfac- 
tion in the act ? Have you heat or pain in making water, 
and do you urinate naturally and free ? Is the urine of a 
natural color ? "What is your general health, the state of 
your appetite, and condition of your bowels ? Your age, oc- 
cupation, mode of living (whether moderate, generous, or ex- 
cessive), and have you any tendency to consumption or other 
diseases ? 

Each non-resident patient so replying, will forward a flat 
one-ounce vial, containing a sample of his first morning 
urine,* packed (in cotton) in a soda-powder box, by mail or 

* In those instances where there is discharged, by pressing the end of the 
penis with the fingers, a drop or two of a sticky, transparent mucus or mat- 
ter (semen) from the urinary passage, instantly after the evacuation of 
urine, the patient can smear a portion of this matter upon a small bit of 
clean glass, cover it with another clean piece, hind them firmly together with 
a thread, and set them aside for half an hour to dry. They can then he sent 
to Dr. H. in a letter, thus obviating the necessity of sending the sample of 
urine ; as the author is enabled to make his analysis equally as well with the 
dried semen, — which contains a sufficient number of spermatozoa for micro- 
scopical examination, — as with the patient's urine. 

In barrenness or sterility, the microscope is as indispensable a guide as it is 
in spermatorrhoea, impotence, &c. 

10 



218 QUERIES, ETC. 

express, prepaid, and accompany his letter by the amplest 
details. The letter should be plainly written, giving the name 
or initials of the writer. Persons residing in Canada, or 
anywhere else out of the United States, will be particular in 
pre-paying the full postage on their letters and packages. 
The state, county, town, or village where patients wish their 
letters addressed, should be carefully written. 



CHAPTER XIII 



NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES, EXHAUSTION, HYSTE- 
RIA, HYPOCHONDRIASIS, &c, &c. 

Those diseases generally termed Nervous, exercise an in- 
fluence over the well-being of society, the injurious extent of 
which can scarcely be calculated. They are slow and in- 
sidious in their approach ; in their growth they are almost 
imperceptible ; but when they have once gained the ascend- 
ency, the tyranny they exercise over one's happiness and 
future prospects in life, is frightful indeed ! At first under- 
mining the bodily, and then the mental powers, the strongest 
men are laid prostrate by what general medical writers can 
bring under no classification — or, in other words, can find no 
name for — from the protaean forms which the malady as- 
sumes. 

Hence, the physician who (being a regularly educated 
practitioner, and practicing this branch of the healing art 
over his own signature, and not under an assumed or false 
name ; and founding his claims to public favor on that broad 
and only solid basis, Experience) will successfully grapple 
with so subtle and powerful an enemy, and rescue its intended 
victims from the clutches of knavish and over-ready quacks ; 
and who will do this, too, by clearly and plainly pointing out 
the symptoms, causes, and Cure of such a destructive class 
of diseases, is surely conferring a great and lasting benefit on 
his fellow-creatures. This, reader, it will be my aim to ac- 
complish in the following pages ; and with the advantages 
which I believe I may safely affirm that I possess, I flatter 



220 NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES. 

myself I shall be able to perform the task to your entire and 
hearty satisfaction. 

These distressing and comparatively neglected complaints, 
being far more prevalent in this country than is generally 
imagined ; and being attended with many dreadful and 
alarming symptoms, which certainly claim our sympathy and 
assistance, and not, as is too generally the case, derision or 
contempt : I have, therefore, been very attentive to the only 
true method of cure, and trust the following will prove as 
good a treatise on these maladies, as any extant. 

Under the denomination of " nervous disorders," in its full 
extent, are included several diseases of the most dangerous 
nature, which are so various that a volume would hardly 
suffice to complete a description of them ; some of the most 
important, however, have been enumerated in the preceding 
chapters. 

Symptoms. — The most common symptoms of Nervous 
Debility, are weakness of the genital organs, flatulence or 
belching of wind, palpitations, restlessness, drowsiness after 
eating, timidity, alternate flushes of heat and cold, numbness, 
pains in different parts of the body, especially in the head, 
back, and loins, giddiness, hiccough, difficulty of respiration 
and deglutition at times, anxiety, dry cough, internal sinking, 
or a sense of great exhaustion, &c. 

There is one symptom which is distinguished by no name, 
and of which it is impossible for the uninitiated to form 
any adequate conception. It is described by the poor suffer- 
ers as making its attacks by violent paroxysms, or Jits, which 
are, however, usually preceded by portentous indications, 
like the brooding of a furious storm. It pervades with its 
baleful and devastating influence the whole nervous system, 
writhing and tearing the heart with inexpressible anguish, 
and exciting the most dreadful thoughts of horror and de- 
spair ! To this terrible demon have thousands fallen a sacri- 
fice, in the horrid transports of its rage. 



NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES. 221 

Nervous, or as they are generally called, Hypochondriac 
complaints, in which are included those mentioned in the cap- 
tions to preceding chapters, and many more beside, which 
want of space and time will not permit me to enumerate, 
are such diseases of the human system as arise from Genital 
Weakness, which induces derangements of the Great Ner- 
vous Centre — cerebral, spinal, sex ml and sympathetic — whose 
nerves are distributed throughout the entire body ; and they 
are attended by such a train of symptoms or outward mani- 
festations, that it is no slight task to enumerate them all : 
for there is no function or part of the economy that is not, 
sooner or later, a sufferer by this influence. They imitate 
almost every disease, and are seldom alike in two different 
persons, or even in the same person at different times. They 
are, also, continually changing shape, and upon every fresh 
attack the patient seems to be annoyed with symptoms which 
he never experienced before. They do not affect the body 
only, but the mind likewise suffers, and is often thereby render- 
ed extremely weak and peevish. The lowness of spirits, ti- 
midity, melancholy, and fickleness of temper, which generally 
accompany nervous or seminal diseases (for they are nearly 
synonymous), induce many to believe that they are entirely 
diseases of the mind ; but this change of temper is rather an 
effect than the cause of these complaints. 

The internal symptoms of Hypochondria are dyspepsia, 
or indigestion, costiveness or diarrhoea, slimy stools or evacua- 
tions from the bowels, flatulency, pale and copious discharges 
of urine, &c. A prominent symptom, is a fear of death, 
united, singularly enough, to a more or less strong desire to 
commit suicide. Nervous complaints are generally attended 
with palpitations of the heart, fluttering, and trembling of 
the limbs, with shortness of breath after the least exercise ; 
the patient is affected with joy and sometimes grief, without 
a cause ; flying pains in the head also attend this disorder, 



222 NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES. 

which are often violent, but transient ; sleepless nights, with 
a wandering and violent imagination, are its characteristic 
and peculiar attendants. In the extreme degree of these dis- 
eases, the symptoms increase in violence, and each one assumes 
the name of a distinct complaint 

Dull headaches, sleepiness, and melancholy, are peculiar 
symptoms attendant upon nervous maladies ; they generally 
arise from want of spirit and motion in the nervous fluid of 
the General Nervous System, giving rise to a deficiency of 
vitality, excitability, and productiveness in the organs of gen- 
eration, male and female. And this being the most common 
cause, it is for this reason, of all others, especially to be taken 
into consideration in the Treatment of these disorders, which, 
if permitted to gather strength by long continuance or indul- 
gence, become very terrible indeed. 

Nervous patients are generally dull and inactive, sub- 
ject to muse without thinking, and to disregard everything ; 
the appetite is bad, the stomach is weak, wind is troublesome, 
and breathing difficult ; lowness of spirits, dimness of sight, 
vain suspicions, melancholy imagination, a disgust for every- 
thing, a love of laziness, and a drowsy inactivity, are the orig- 
inal and peculiar symptoms of nervous complaints in gen- 
eral. 

These complaints usually begin with an absurdity of the 
patient's behavior, inactivity, dislike to motion, anorexia, 
rumbling in the bowels, costiveness, oppression from gases, 
frequent sighing, weeping, anxiety about the breast and 
heart, great melancholy, internal sinking, load at the stom- 
ach, palpitations, taciturnity, or pouting, wild, incoherent dis- 
course or conversation, ridiculous notions — the mind being 
frequently but momentarily fixed upon one object, &c. <fcc. ; 
all of which are preceded by a variety of other symptoms 
still, as windy inflations or derangement of the stomach and 
intestines, appetite and digestion bad, while sometimes there 



NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES. 223 

is an uncommon craving for food, and a quick digestion ; the 
food often turns sour in the stomach, and the unhappy sufferer 
is troubled besides with vomiting of clear water, phlegm, or a 
blackish colored liquor resembling coffee-grounds. Excruciat- 
ing pains are often felt about the umbilicus, or " button." 
The bowels are sometimes loose, but more commonly bound, 
which occasions retention of wind and great uneasiness. 

As these symptoms increase, the patient is tormented much 
with head-ache, cramps, and fixed or wandering pains in va- 
rious parts of the body ; the eyes are clouded, and often af- 
fected with pain and dryness ; in [ short, the whole bodily 
functions are impaired. The mind is disturbed on the most 
trivial occasions, and is hurried into the most perverse com- 
motions, perturbations, inquietude, terror, dullness, anger, 
diffidence, &c. The sufferer is apt to entertain wild imagina- 
tions and extravagant fancies ; the memory becomes weak, and 
the judgment fails. 

The urine is sometimes small in quantity, at other times 
very copious and pale, and again high colored and turbid. 
There is a great straitness of the breast, with difficulty of 
breathing ; violent palpitations of the heart, sudden flushes of 
heat in various parts of the body ; at other times a sense of 
cold, as if water were being poured upon them ; flying or 
darting pains in the arms and lower limbs, back, and belly, 
resembling those occasioned by the gravel ; the pulse very 
variable, sometimes uncommonly slow, at other times remark- 
ably quick ; gnawing, hiccough, frequent sighing, and a sense 
of suffocation, as from a ball or lump in the throat ; alternate 
fits of crying and convulsive laughing ; the sleep is unsound 
and seldom refreshing, and the patient is troubled with horrid 
dreams. 

It was truthfully observed by an ancient writer, that ner- 
vous diseases imitate all kinds of disorders so nearly, 
that most physicians, without they have made these affections 
their especial study, are generally at a loss to distinguish 



224 NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES. 

them from other essential maladies of any part ; but that one 
particular symptom of these complaints is, a despair of ever 
recovering. Therefore, as the most common symptom of 
Hypochondria is a constant dread of death, it of course ren- 
ders those unhappy sufferers who are afflicted with it, peevish > 
fickle, and impatient. But I shall perhaps return to this fact, 
when speaking upon the treatment of these complaints. 

Causes. — Yaried and numerous are the causes of this 
class of maladies, among the most common of which, I shall 
mention the following, namely : The constant brooding over 
some loss or disappointment, great anxiety of mind, an inac- 
tive, indolent, or sedentary life, excessive venery, exertion or 
fatigue, too hard or too much labor, the use of crude, windy, 
or unwholesome food, irregularity and intemperance, long- 
continued evacuations or inordinate drains from the body ; 
and, in fact, everything that has a tendency to diminish the 
tone or energy of the nervous system. But the " cause of 
causes," and one which should never be forgotten, is, a want 
of spirit and motion in the nervous fluid, or vital principle 
of the body, giving rise to deficiency of vitality, excitability, 
and productiveness in the organs of generation, male and fe- 
male — in a word, to genital weakness. Everything that 
tends to relax or weaken the body, disposes it to these disor- 
ders ; as indolence, drinking too much green or black tea, 
coffee, or other watery liquids warm ; frequent bleeding, purg- 
ing, vomiting, &c. ; excess of grief or pleasure ; leading a stu- 
dious or sedentary life ; the horrid practice of a secret and de- 
structive vice .(long residence in hot climates. Whatever in- 
jures the digestion, or prevents the formation of rich and 
healthy blood, has likewise a tendency to promote these com- 
plaints ; as long fasting, excessive drinking, the use of windy, 
crude, or unwholesome aliments, or even an unfavorable pos- 
ture of the body. 

Nervous affections have frequently been occasioned or 
aggravated by some disappointment in life. They also pro- 



NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES. 225 

ceed from intense application to any pursuit or study ; few 
studious persons are entirely free from them. Intense study 
not only preys upon the spirits, but prevents the person from 
taking proper exercise, by which means the digestion is im- 
paired, the nutrition prevented, the muscular system, or flesh, 
becomes flabby, and the whole mass of humors vitiated. 
Grief and cruel suspense produce, also, the same result. In 
short, whatever weakens the body, or depresses the spirits, 
occasions nervous diseases — as unwholesome air, want of 
sleep, great fatigue, disagreeable apprehensions, anxiety, vex- 
ation, <fcc, &c. 

TTeakness of the nervous system is often — alas ! too often — 
occasioned by irregularities in one sex, and sensual excesses in 
the other. It is also an indisputable fact, that when weak- 
ness of the stomach and bowels has been once introduced, 
many are the occasional causes of irritation from which 
nervous symptoms may ensue. In general, whatever by 
quantity or quality relaxes the solids of the body (the flesh, 
«fcc), or by acrimony stimulates into spasms; or whatever 
diminishes the energy, or excites irregular motion of the ani- 
mal spirits, or the vital fluid, tends immediately, or remotely, 
to the production of nervous diseases. The aim of the phy- 
sician, therefore, must be, to supply this diminished energy and 
want of vitality — especially in the genital organs — to increase 
it to a sufficient degree, and change what is called the atony 
of the Xervous System into that state of excitability and 
realization necessary for the vigorous performnance of all 
the functions of the body, especially those of propagation of 
the species and muscular action. Let the reader bear this 
in mind, when we come to the treatment of these disorders. 

Concluding Remarks. — Though persons of genius are 
more liable to nervous maladies, the rest of mankind are by 
no means exempt from them. Genius often throws the nerves 
into convulsions, but too close attention naturally benumbs 
their faculties. These disorders are considered by some 
10* 



226 NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES. 

authors to be a low grade of mental derangement, or insanity. 
The dull, stupid, and corpulent, are seldom or never the sub- 
jects of these affections. An opinion also prevails, that ner- 
vous complaints are at present more aggravated among us 
than at any former period, and are chiefly attributed to excess 
of indulgences practiced in these times of refinement and 
luxury. It is certainly true, that the further we depart from 
simplicity, or a state of nature and temperance in what we 
eat and drink, and the more we sacrifice wholesome exercise 
to the inactivity attending domestic amusements, the greater 
will be the influence of every physical error, in diminishing 
tlie vigor of the constitution. 

Persons who labor under any of these disorders, often 
believe themselves to be afflicted with various peculiar diseases, 
and sometimes that they have living animals in their stom- 
achs. Each pain and symptom is brooded over perpetually, 
and they are constantly harassed with horrible forebodings of 
evil ; with a fear that they will surely come to want ; fearful 
and dreadful apprehensions ; a constant fear of dying ; very 
changeable and peevish ; liable to quarrel with friends and 
relatives ; irritable and capricious ; great depression and des- 
pondency of mind, often on the subject of religion ; sometimes 
in deep despair. I knew a lady who was for some years in 
this state, and she suffered terribly, until by a judicious course 
of treatment she finally recovered her health rapidly. I 
have known others who have committed suicide under the in- 
fluence of these diseases in some form or other. They render 
the victims of them the most unhappy of beings ; and, not- 
withstanding this, their friends generally, instead of manifest- 
ing sympathy, treat their cases lightly, or rather with ridicule. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 

The principal though least suspected cause of these dissor- 
ders being, as I have mentioned, " A want of spirit and 
motion in the nervous fluid, or vital principle of the body, 
giving rise to deficiency of vitality, excitability, and produc- 
tiveness in the organs of generation, male and female, — in a 
word, to Genital Weakness," — it follows that the chief in- 
dication in the successful treatment must necessarily be, on 
the part of the physician, to supply, by some prompt and 
certain means, this diminished energy and want of vitality in 
the Nervous System.* And to find this certain means of 
cure, a remedy, which should prove itself such, has been the 
great desideratum among the physicians of all countries, in 
all ages of the world, no matter of what particular school of 
medicine they may have been the representatives — Eclectic, 
Allopathic, Homeopathic, Empiric — all, the most learned and 
thoughtful men of science, or the vilest charlatans. The 
honor of the discovery of such a remedy has been, however, 
reserved for this age of wonders and remarkable inventions ; 
and to the writer of this work is the public indebted for this 
last and greatest boon to the afflicted — the Medicated 
Bougie, either alone, or with the Spts. Formic, the Veratrum 
Yiride, Iodine, &c, according to the nature of the case to 
be treated. 

Persons afflicted with Nervous symptoms, lowness of 
spirits, &c, ought never to go long without eating ; little at 
a time and often being best for them. The food should be 

* When resulting from Spermatorrhoea. 



228 TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 

generous and nourishing, but easy of digestion. Eoast and 
boiled meats, such as beef and mutton, are best suited to 
such cases. All excesses should be carefully avoided. Hot 
victuals are hurtful, as also watery or windy vegetables, 
particularly turnips, cabbage, peas, beans, and the like, and 
should never be partaken of by nervous sufferers. Never eat 
more at once than can be conveniently digested with comfort ; 
but if the patient feels weak and faint between meals, he 
should eat a bit of bread and meat, and drink part of a glass 
of cold water, with two teaspoonfuls of the following Tonic 
Cordial added thereto. It is prepared as follows : Take of 
Skull-cap, one ounce; American or English Valerian, one 
ounce ; best French brandy, half a pint ; bruise the roots and 
put them into a junk bottle, to which add the brandy, and 
let it stand, well-corked, for twenty-four hours. This Cor- 
dial is a useful preparation. 

Heavy suppers are to be avoided in these complaints. 
Although wine used to excess enfeebles the body and impairs 
the faculties of the mind ; yet, taken with moderation, it 
strengthens the stomach and promotes digestion. Therefore, 
wine and water, with half a teaspoonful of the above Cordial 
to every glass, is very proper for nervous patients to drink at 
meals ; but if wine sours upon the stomach, or the person is 
much troubled with ivind, weak brandy and water will 
answer better than wine. Everything that is windy and 
hard of digestion should be avoided. All weak and warm 
liquids are injurious — as tea, coffee, punch, &c. People may 
find, perhaps, a temporary relief in these ; but they always, in 
the end, increase the malady, weaken the stomach, and impede 
or hurt the digestion. Above all things, drams ought to be 
shunned as one would shun poison. Whatever immediate or 
present ease the patient may experience from the use of 
ardent spirits, they are, however, sure to aggravate the dis- 
order, and prove a certain poison at last. These warnings 
are of the utmost importance ; most persons being fond of 



TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 229 

\ 

tea, and stimulants generally, and to the abuse of which many 
fall victims. 

It is, however, in these diseases that I have met with very 
great success in the employment of that truly astonishing 
medicine, the Veratrum Viride, in combination with Spts. 
Formic, Iodine, etc. ; both of which medicines, though 
potent and subtle remedies, are, at the same time, when 
judiciously prescribed, strictly in accordance with age, sex, 
constitution, and the other peculiarities of the case, Invalu- 
able. They are particularly efficacious in all internal or in- 
ward exhaustive or sinking sensations, loss of appetite, indi- 
gestion, depression of spirits, trembling or shaking of the 
hands or limbs, shortness of breath, and consumptive symptoms. 
They purify and revitalize the blood and secretions, ease the 
most violent pains in the head and stomach, and promote 
gentle perspiration. After a most extensive experience in 
the use of these precious medicaments, now for a long term 
of years, I hesitate not to pronounce them sheet-anchors of 
the physician's hopes. 

Exercise in nervous disorders is very beneficial ; and rid- 
ing on horseback is generally esteemed the best, as it gives 
motion to the whole body without fatiguing it. Walking, 
however, agrees better with others. Every one ought to use 
that which is found to agree best with his constitution. Such 
things as have a tendency to divert the mind, by change of 
place and the sight of new objects, very materially assist in 
removing these complaints ; and it is for this reason that 
short jaunts near home, or long journeys on land, are 
altogether preferable to a protracted sea voyage. 

A cool dry air will be found serviceable in these com- 
plaints, as it gives tone and strength to the whole system, and 
at the same time invigorates the lungs, the digestive powers, 
&c. I know of hardly anything that tends more to relax and 
enervate the system than heated air, especially that which is 
made so by the use of large fires in small apartments. But 



230 TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 

when the stomach or bowels is weak, the body should be well pro- 
tected against cold, particularly in the winter season, by simply 
wearing a thin flannel waist-coat over the body linen, but not 
next to the skin, as is generally recommended. This precau- 
tion will keep up an equal temperature, and protect the 
digestive organs, as well as the heart and lungs, from many 
impressions to which they would otherwise be more or less lia- 
ble, on every sudden change from warm to cold weather ; 
changes, which, in a climate like ours, are of incessant occur- 
rence. 

Let all who suffer from nervous prostration, rise early and 
take moderate exercise before breakfast; as indulging too 
long in sleep cannot fail to debilitate and relax the system. 
Such persons should be diverted, and kept as comfortable 
and cheerful as circumstances will permit ; for there is noth- 
ing that impairs the nervous system more than anger, fear, 
grief, or anxiety. The temperature of the air is a very ma- 
terial consideration, and of much more importance than most 
people imagine ; a light, dry, and warm air being best adapt- 
ed to weak and diseased lungs, while a dry, cold or temperate 
air is best suited for relaxed and nervous patients. 

The perpetual requirements of nature, and the regular or- 
der of things generally, demand activity in the human species, 
in common with the rest of animated life ; and the construc- 
tion of our bodies plainly shows us that it is not only admira- 
bly calculated for that purpose, but also points out that ex- 
ercise is even indispensably necessary, in order to preserve 
that due regularity in the wheels and springs of motion, as 
well as to fit them for the healthful performance of their re- 
spective functions. Exercise is like the main-spring to deli- 
cate machinery; it favorably influences and promotes the 
digestion, prepares the blood (that irreparable balsam of life) 
for its varied destination, distributes it through all the chan- 
nels of the circulation, expels the imperfect and offensive par- 
ticles of the fluids or juices of the body, braces the nerves, 



TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 231 

gives a firm tone to the muscles and other solids, and carries 
an even flow of comfort and hilarity throughout the entire 
economy ; provided, always, the medicines recommended, have 
been regularly taken previously, for at least four weeks, in 
order to supply the diminished energy and want of vitality 
necessary to put the main-spring of life in motion. Violent 
exercise, however, is injurious after a full meal ; and in the 
morning, when the stomach is quite empty, too much exer- 
cise is very pernicious. Active and oft-repeated exercise re- 
lieves the head, lessens rheumatic pains, keeps the bowels reg- 
ular, is favorable to all the descending evacuations, and has 
likewise a tendency to prevent the gout ; it contributes largely 
to the general health, and by increasing the circulation of the 
blood, and other humors in the legs and feet (since the lower 
limbs are the original seat of the gout), it may, perhaps, hinder 
the formation and assimilation of those unhealthy particles 
which are found to exist, in a concentrated and concrete state, 
in a fixed and settled gout. 

Riding horseback is an excellent species of exercise, and 
essentially beneficial in obstructed and nervous habits, and in 
all diseases of the lungs ; but when the nerves or bowels are 
much debilitated, the best substitute then, is riding in an open 
carriage. Another valuable kind of exercise consists in mod- 
erate dancing in the open air occasionally ; to the influences 
of music and elevated festivity, it unites the charms of refined 
sociability and attraction, and inspires an animation which 
moves the system (in connection with the use of the medicines) 
in a more pleasing and effectual manner, and with oftentimes 
far happier effects than the other more common exercises can 
impart. 

There are two prevailing errors in regard to exercise, 
which Fonblanc alludes to most truthfully in his " Medical 
Essays."* He remarks that " People of debilitated, delicate, 

♦Vol. 8, page 411. 



232 TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 

and nervous habits, who should always avoid too much exer- 
cise at one time, often hurt themselves by over exertion, be- 
cause they judge it advisable to ' take plenty of exer- 
cise.' There are others, again, who being confined within 
doors, and leading a sedentary life, think to compensate for 
want of regular exercise, by a hard ride or walk on Sunday : 
but this is a mistaken notion ; the nerves of such persons, 
unaccustomed to bear so great a degree of agitation, are 
over-strained and relaxed, or weakened by it, while the circu- 
lation of their fluids — which is generally very slow and lan- 
guid — is thrown into disorder from the same cause, and thus 
a foundation is laid for those very complains it was meant to 
prevent." In such cases, the Veratrum Yiride, &c, will be 
found to act as an excellent substitute, and should be pre- 
severed in until it has sufficiently strengthened the Nervous 
System, to enable the patient to resort to exercise, when he 
will then be in a condition to reap all the advantages from 
it which this remedy, duly prepared and prescribed, confers. 

There is hardly anything more common than to hear peo- 
ple express their surprise at having caught a cold, because 
they are at a loss to account for the cause of it. They are 
not ignorant of the fact that damp air, wet clothes, the 
drinking of cold water when the body is over-heated, or too 
warm liquors while it is cold, and the like, are among the 
main causes ; but do not consider that all sudden changes or 
transitions from one temperature and one extreme to another, 
are equally conducive of the same effect, though the circum- 
stances of it may not be so apparent to them. I here wish to 
impress it upon the minds of my readers, that there is no one 
thing which I can recommend more strongly to them than the 
wearing of soft flannel over the body linen, while laboring 
under any affection of the chest or weakness of the bowels. 
And in all rheumatic, scrofulous, dropsical, hypochondriac and 
nervous complaints, this well-timed caution equally applies. 

With regard to sleep, too much of it weakens the nerves, 



TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 233 

renders the person cross and irritable, and it may, in the end, 
bring on apoplexy and palsy ; it likewise produces a lethar- 
gic and indolent disposition, disqualifies for action, and blunts 
the energy both of the intellectual and corporeal faculties. 
On the other hand, nothing can be more hurtful than the 
loss of sleep and the want of due rest ; watching, by exciting 
an artificial fever, and by negatively exciting the nervous 
system — when its powers are already exhausted — effectually 
w T astes the strength, debilitates the body, and lays it open to 
every attack, especially to nervous and violent brain fevers. 
The quantity of sleep must be proportioned rather to the 
strength of the body, than to the degree of exercise or labor. 
For instance, in lax and weekly constitutions, the natural mo- 
tion and wear and tear of the system exhaust and dissipate 
the vital strength much sooner than in those persons who are 
hardy and robust ; consequently the former require more 
sleep to repair the waste and consumption, than what is 
necessary for the latter ; besides, in those who have much 
exercise or labor, the powers of circulation being more com- 
plete, and sleep more mature, the business of nature is sooner 
performed. I have known persons who required from eight 
to nine hours sleep every night, or they were good for nothing 
the next day. I have at present one or two patients of this 
description ; and I believe, as a general rule, such persons 
never enjoy sound health ; and am of opinion, that from five 
to six hours' sleep, for an adult, is sufficient, and that a longer 
indulgence, except in case of sickness, is followed, in the long 
run, by evil results. 

Heavy suppers, much reading, study, or other considerable 
agitation or application of the mind, near the hour of going 
to bed, tend to prevent sound sleep, and to occasion un- 
pleasant dreams ; the drinking of tea, coffee, or any other 
thin, warm, weak liquor, will also retard sleep. Therefore, 
let these pernicious practices be abandoned by the nervous 
invalid, ere his health be so far undermined as to be beyond 



234 TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 

the reach of medical aid ; but which he should no longer 
hesitate to call immediately to his succor, if he has not yet 
done so. 

A regular appetite for food or nourishment, I need hardly 
state, is almost an infallible sign of health, all things being 
equal ; for when the stomach is in a sound condition, and di- 
gestion is properly performed, the spirits are good (except in 
Genital Weakness) , and the body is light and easy : but when 
those important organs are out of order, a sense of languor 
and debility, with melancholy, watchfulness, or troublesome 
dreams, the nightmare, &c, are the general results. Seminal 
Emissions are almost always present in such cases, and are at 
the bottom of the mischief, as we have already seen, when I 
was treating upon that complaint in a previous chapter. A 
perfect digestion is at the same time regular and easy, other- 
wise it is a false appetite, originating either from some un- 
natural stimulus, or from too luxurious a style of living ; 
consequently, the stomach craves more than is necessary or 
proper. Simplicity of diet has numerous advocates among 
the reflecting class of physicians ; and there can be no doubt 
that the more varieties the stomach becomes accustomed to, 
the more dainties, and perhaps increased quantities- of food 
are demanded. Our manner of living should therefore be 
regulated from the earliest period of childhood. When the 
Iodine and Yeratrum Yiride have been used long enough to 
give tone to the stomach and nerves, I have found a milk and 
vegetable diet, in thousands of instances, to reanimate the con- 
stitution wonderfully — especially in those cases in which the 
patient's pulse was full, complexion red, and with symptoms 
of an increased rush of blood to the head, heart and lungs ; 
but in persons of a weak and poor habit of body, animal food 
is more proper. 

Blandeau, in his i; Physiological Observations," makes the 
following judicious remarks : " Never use milk, soups, beer, 
or other liquors hot, for this is unnatural to man, as well as to 



TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 235 

all animals ; and by relaxing the nerves of the stomach, heart, 
and genital organs, and other contiguous parts, are productive 
of numerous disorders in those in whom these organs are al- 
ready weak : much less scalding tea, which many drink hot 
enough to blister the skin of a delicate person." And I may 
add, that hot drinks spoil the teeth, bring on the tooth-ache, 
weaken the head and eyes, ruin the Nervous System, and 
commit abundance of other mischief. 

Having now said all that I deem of importance respecting 
the Diet and Regimen necessary to be observed in connec- 
tion with the use of the Yeratrum Yiride, Iodine, &c, for the 
cure of the disorders thus far passed upon as resulting from 
Nervo-Genital Weakness, I come at once to the special treat- 
ment of the same. 

It is generally believed that nervous complaints are rarely 
permanently cured ; but that they may be occasionally ame- 
liorated or soothed, and the victim's existence made more 
comfortable and endurable, by means of proper medicines, 
&c, I believe is universally admitted. Now, I will venture 
to affirm, that if the foregoing advice be faithfully adhered to, 
as well as the following method of treatment, a thorough and 
speedy Cure will be the result ; at least, I have never known 
these means to fail in my hands, and, if the patient's physician 
uses them with, judgment, they will not fail in his hands either. 

Preparatory to entering upon a regular course of the 
Yeratrum Yiride and Spts. Formic, and in order to derive 
the greatest benefit from their use, I recommend in those 
cases presenting the symptoms so fully laid down in the pre- 
ceding chapter, be they present to a greater or less extent, a 
gentle emetic of 20 grains of ipecacuanha ; and when the pa- 
tient is costive, a little rheubarb, or some other mild purga- 
tive, is to be taken, as the body should never be suffered to be 
long bound. All strong, violent purgatives, are, however, to 
be avoided, as aloes, calomel and jalap, &c. An infusion of 
senna and rheubarb in brandy answers very well. This may 



236 TREATMENT OF NERVOUS DISEASES. 

be made of any desirable strength, and taken in such quanti- 
ties as the patient finds necessary. When the digestion is bad, 
or the stomach relaxed and weak, as is generally the case, 
a dose of the Veratrum, with Iodine, taken one hour before 
meals, will be attended with the best effect ; and at eleven 
and four o'clock, the following infusion of Peruvian Bark 
may be used with advantage, if the sufferer be afflicted with 
wind: Take of Peruvian Bark, an ounce; gentian root, 
orange peel, and coriander seeds, of each half an ounce : let these 
ingredients be bruised in a mortar, and infused in a bottle of 
good brandy for five or six days. Half a tablespoonful of the 
strained liquor may be taken in a glass of water. Or, if the 
patient prefers, from 15 to 20 drops of the Aromatic Elixir of 
Vitrol may be added to two teaspoonfuls of old cogniac, in a 
wineglassful of cold water, and taken two or three times a 
day, or as occasion may require. This will expel wind, 
strengthen the stomach, and promote digestion ; while the 
Veratrum, &c, will revitalize and invigorate the Genital and 
Nervous Systems, by supplying them with the vitality which 
they have lost, and upon which loss primarily depend Ner- 
vous Disorders aud Sexual Debility. 

It would be an easy matter to enumerate many medicines 
for ameliorating these complaints ; but whoever wishes for a 
thorough and permanent CURE, must only expect it from 
the above treatment, together with the diet and regimen 
which I have given. Therefore, the greatest attention is 
necessary as to regularity, as well as to diet, air, exercise and 
amusement. 



CHAPTER XV. 



CONSUMPTION, GENERAL AND PULMONARY. 

In this disease, the whole body becomes gradually emaciated 
and consumed, which is the result either of scrofulous ulcera- 
tion of the lungs, or of sexual excesses, both in the male and 
female. 

Causes. — They are numerous, but among the most promi- 
nent, I would enumerate the following, namely : The destruc- 
tive effects of a secret vice almost universally practiced among 
the young of both sexes, excessive indulgence in the pleasures 
of Yenus, or the inordinate practice of sexual propensities, 
giving rise to Genital Weakness, whereby the Nervous 
System — upon which all else depends — becomes shattered 
and prematurely prostrated and exhausted ; nervous, bilious, 
asthmatic, and dropsical complaints ; leading a too studious or 
sedentary life ; long residence in hot climates, and vicissitudes 
in the atmosphere ; the common use of mercurials, of tea, coffee, 
and other debilitating beverages ; excessive dram-drinking ; 
cold, or what is generally termed a check of perspiration. 
Consumption may also be owing to cold caught by lying in 
damp-beds, or inhabiting damp-houses ; chlorosis or " green 
sickness ; " excess of grief or pleasure ; debility of the 
muscular and nervous energy ; torpidity in the circulation of 
the blood ; acrid or diseased (scrofulous) condition of this 
fluid ; neglect of customary exercises ; long neck ; straight 
breast — flat and narrow ; depressed or flattened shoulders ; 
ulceration^of the liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, peritonaeum, 
womb, &g. ; a translation or shifting of humors from another 



238 CONSUMPTION. 

part of the body to the lungs ; and, in fact, anything that 
occasions stagnation of blood in these organs, until it be- 
comes converted into a thick, yellowish, puriform corruptive 
matter termed tubercles, or tubercular deposits. But the 
Great Cause of the early decay of thousands of American 
youth of both sexes, but particularly of the male sex, is 
Secret Yice or Onanism, resulting in self -induced Consump- 
tion. Let me here state a few facts regarding this terrible 
malady, for I desire that every reader should give this vital and 
all-important subject the most careful and candid reflection, 
as nearly One Hundred Thousand Persons die yearly, in 
this country alone, of Consumption. Of this number, two- 
thirds die before the age of thirty-five. Self- Abuse, or over 
excitement of the Sexual System and Organs, is a habit 
which is commonly begun in childhood, and continued through 
the important period of youth into maturer years, until its 
victims either become bankrupt in health, or else are hurried 
prematurely into the cold and silent grave. This frightful 
passion or propensity, is a fire that smoulders in silence, and 
insidiously consumes, while parents and guardians are igno- 
rant of the cause. It is a vice which prostrates all the vital 
energies, mentsl, moral, and physical, causing decay, insanity, 
idocy, death. 

Symptoms. — Although these are various, according to the 
different stages of the disease, I shall mention those 
which I have found in an extensive practice, the most con- 
stant and regular in their appearance, and which I believe 
correspond to the great majority of cases (though not in all,) 
as they occur in this climate : — Hoarseness, or a dry, hacking 
cough, with little or no expectoration in the commencement ; 
spitting of a thin mucus, occasionally streaked with blood, 
or of a brownish color ; a sense of oppression, and pains in 
the chest ; slight fever, generally increased somewhat towards 
evening ; a too great and peculiar heat of the body ; irregular 
wandering pains, familiarly known as " flying stitches ; " 



CONSUMPTION. 239 

hectic flushing, or an alternate heat and chill felt over the 
surface of the body, particularly in the face, the palms of 
the hands, and soles of the feet (which are often of a clammy 
moisture) ; pain in the stomach or breast, and side — generally 
in the right, or it may be in the left, or in both — the sufferer 
commonly rests better on the diseased side ; variable appetite, 
gloominess, loss of memory, sleepy, dull and heavy ; listless 
and melancholy ; mind confused, sleep disturbed ; nostrils dry 
and itchy ; nervousness, lassitude, disinclination to motion, 
and diminished strength ; general debility, seminal weakness, 
involuntary emissions during sleep ; dimness of sight ; hardness 
of hearing ; timidity and self-distrust, or want of confidence. 
Laurence truthfully observes, that, in connection with the fore- 
going symptoms, " a long-continued, or dry cough, accom- 
panied by a disposition to vomit after eating, is one of the 
strongest reasons to supect the presence of consumption. 

The patient generally complains of a more than usual de- 
gree of heat, though not always ; a pain and oppression in 
the breast, especially after motion ; the saliva or spittle has a 
saltish taste, and is sometimes mixed with a brown or darkish 
matter. Consumptives are apt to be sad, — the appetite is bad, 
and the thirst great. There is commonly either a quick, soft 
pulse, or a slow and shattered -pulsation at the wrist ; and 
occasionally it is full and bounding : these are the common 
symptoms of a beginning or incipient decline. 

Afterwards, or in the second stage of phthisis, the patient 
begins to expectorate or spit a greenish yellow, or bloody 
matter, erroneously called pus, and which results from the 
softening of tuberculous substances with which the lungs are, 
to a great extent, now filled. The body in this stage becomes 
considerably emaciated and weakened by the hectic fever, and 
colliquative " night sweats," which regularly succeed each 
other night and morning. A looseness of the bowels, or 
diarrhoea, together with an excessive discharge of urine, are 
often harassing symptoms at this time, and greatly reduce the 



240 CONSUMPTION. 

poor victim. There is a burning heat in the palms of the 
hands, attended with more or less itching and tingling in them, 
and the face generally becomes red or flushed after eating ; 
the fingers become remarkably small, but clubbed or broad 
at the ends, the nails bend inward, and the hair begins to fall 
off. At last, the swelling of the legs and feet, the total loss 
of strength, the sinking of the eyes, the difficulty of swallow- 
ing, and the coldness of the extremities, indicate the approach 
of death, which, however, the wretched patient seldom thinks 
near. 

Such, reader, is the usual progress of this fatal malady, 
which, if not early attended to and permanently checked, 
commonly sets all medicine at defiance, and hastens its victims 
to an untimely, premature grave. Such are the prevailing 
symptoms, and rarely does the young patient realize the fate 
that awaits him — or her — until he finds himself tottering on 
the brink of eternity, a victim of unbridled passions and self- 
indulgence, — a prey to disease and an inglorious death. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTION. 

I commence my treatment of this distressing and dismal 
complaint, by prescribing the use of roasted meats, particular- 
ly beef and mutton, moderately cooked, and of a judicious dose 
of the Yeratrum Yiride and Iodine, dissolved in good old 
generous Madeira wine — a dose of this in half a wineglassful 
— at eleven o'clock in the morning, at four o'clock in the af- 
ternoon, and one hour before retiring to rest. To be repeat- 
ed according to circumstances, and persevered in until the 
cure is effected. I also recommend friction with a soft flesh- 
brush, or coarse towel, over the whole body, but particularly 
over the chest and spine ; exercise, and a comfortable degree 
of warmth to the surface of the body. 

On account of the chemical composition of the tubercles, 
which I alluded to in the preceding chapter, I am in the habit 
of giving to this class of patients some of the preparations of 
iron ; recommending them, at the same time, to make free 
use of salt with their food. These means I have found to 
agree in all the stages of this disease ; but great care must 
be observed not to increase the local irritation by the too 
free use of stimulants. With these, and some other means 
which will be presently mentioned, I have met with very 
great success ; and am persuaded that, if they are judiciously 
administered, they may be as successful in the hands of other 
persons as well. 

It were almost an act of supererogation to warn the public 
against the injurious effects of remedial agents when- improper- 
11 



242 TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTION. 

ly employed, in any disease, but particularly in consumption ; 
and to caution all, that unless judgment be the guide of our 
actions, and experience our monitor, we shall be very liable 
to do mischief instead of good — both to ourselves and friends 
— from thus blindly groping in the dark ; with these two 
landmarks, however, none need go astray, but may admin- 
ister as successfully to the sick as the best physician in ex- 
istence. 

Exercise, properly regulated and persevered in, is of para- 
mount importance, and is to be faithfully observed in con- 
sumptive, as well as in nervous cases, to which the reader is 
referred. New milk, if it agrees, should be taken for break- 
fast and supper ; if it purges, it should be boiled. Woman's 
milk is, by some physicians, recommended. Dr. Burroughs, 
an East Indian physician, relates a case of a man reduced to 
such a degree of weakness and emaciation, from consumption, 
as not to be able to turn himself in bed. His child happen- 
ing to die, he sucked his wife's breasts, not with a view of 
reaping advantage from the milk, but to give her relief. 
Finding himself, however, greatly benefited by it, he contin- 
ued to suck her till he became perfectly well, and is at present 
a strong and healthy man. Asses' milk is preferable to cows', 
but when the former is not to be obtained readily, the other 
answers very well. Goats' milk is not rich enough in nutri- 
ment, and fatal effects have even been observed to result from 
the use of it ; Dr. Mondon, of Paris, relates a case of this 
kind. 

Meat broths are good for consumptives, and may be taken 
as strong as the stomach will bear ; jellies, prepared from any 
healthy animal substance, such as calves' feet, for instance, 
may be frequently taken ; and the patient should ride on 
horseback, if possible, every morning ; and if too weak to sit 
alone, he (or she) should be supported by one who rides be- 
hind, " for," says Sydenham, " riding on the back of a horse 
or mule, in the morning, but not to cause fatigue, is absolute- 



TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTION. 243 

ly necessary ; although walking, if preferred, is certainly an 
excellent substitute ; so much so, indeed, that I order either 
the one or the other to patients troubled with consumption." 

Boerhaave is of opinion that buttermilk is better than any 
other kind of beverage, as such, for consumptive persons, and 
informs us that he has known very extraordinary cures per- 
formed by buttermilk, and that, too, when the case was look- 
ed upon as desperate ; in this opinion Dr. Barrington fully 
coincides. I am also perfectly convinced it has a very good 
effect, particularly if a dose of the Iodide* be dissolved in a 
teaspoonful of the best old Cogniac brandy, and ten drops of the 
following preparation be mixed with each draught, namely : 
Take of Dried Chloride of Iron, one drachm, Alcohol at 22°, 
four drachms ; pour the first ingredient into a bottle with a 
ground glass stopper, add the alcohol and stop tight ; put it, 
after shaking moderately, in a dark, cool place, for use. If not 
carefully stopped, the atmospheric air will decompose this 
liquid and impair its virtues. This mixture will prevent any 
griping pains in the bowels, which buttermilk is otherwise 
apt to occasion, ag well as wonderfully improve the strength 
and brace the muscles ; imparting firmness to the flesh in an 
extraordinary and happy degree. 

For the consumptive invalid, a dry, tvarm, clear air is nec- 
essary ; and for the common drink, flax-seed or bran-tea, cold, 
is the best when pure water cannot be obtained, which, of all 
beverages, is the most beneficial to health and longevity. For 
a change, gruel made of sago, salep, or chocolate may be 
resorted to ; and tea prepared from coltsfoot flowers, or tussil- 
ago, sweetened with honey, I can with confidence recommend, 
having used them in my own practice with decided advantage. 
Shell fish of all sorts, such as lobsters, crabs, muscles, &c, as 
well as wild fowls and other brown meats, are good, and very 
proper for consumptive persons. Pure port wine and water, 

* A solution of the Iodide of Potassium (which should never be taken, how- 
ever, except under the supervision of a competent surgeon). 



244 TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTION. 

if it can be obtained, is a suitable drink at dinner, in these 
cases, or where there is much debility. The confection of 
red roses, in the quantity of three or four ounces daily, has 
been administered with singular advantage in this complaint. 
Orange juice, sweetened with a little honey and rose water, 
or Liquor Calcis (lime water), with a dose of the Iodide dis- 
solved therein, and 15 drops of the Tonic Cordial mentioned 
on another page, produce a particularly good effect in this dis- 
ease, when buttermilk can not be Had, or a change is desired. 

The powdered Peruvian bark is frequently administered 
with great advantage when an abscess has formed in the 
lungs, and which may be distinguished by the expectoration 
of gross, fetid, bloody or purulent matter, oppression at the 
chest, and hectic symptoms. Many physicians prefer the salts 
of bark, and particularly sulph. quinia, to the bark itself, on 
account of the smallness of bulk, and the somewhat greater 
facility in administering it ; but I prefer to give it in sub- 
stance, being well satisfied that it is more efficacious than the 
salt, which I believe is chemically altered for the worse in 
the process necessary for preparing it. ^.n ounce of the 
pulverized bark may be divided into 16 equal parts, and one 
taken every four hours in a little rose or lime water, sweet- 
ened with syrup of roses. Having recommended lime water 
frequently in these pages, I will here give the formula for 
preparing the liquid in the simplest and most economical 
manner : — 

Take of quick lime, half a pound ; put it into a pan, and 
pour upon it four quarts of boiling water ; when it has stood 
12 hours, pour off the clear liquor, and cork it up in clean 
bottles for use. 

The following Preparation I have great success with in 
curing consumption, even when the patient has been given 
up, and there appeared to be very little chance of his ever 
being again restored to health. I now recollect the case of 
a lady, who was recommended to try me, after having been 



TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTION. 245 

given up as a hopeless case by her physicians, and who was 
reduced almost to a skeleton when I saw her ; indeed, it 
seemed as if there was no help for her whatever : yet by pa- 
tience, and due perseverance in this invaluable preparation, 
in connection with the Yeratrum Yiride, she perfectly re- 
covered her health. I prepare the medicine in the following 
manner : — 

Take Vinegar of Squills, one ounce ; Genuine Tincture of Canna- 
bis Indica, two ounces; Lime Water, half a pint; Honey and Honey 
of Red Roses, of each a quarter of a pound ; Actce Racemosa, two 
ounces ; Spirit. Formic. ? two ounces; the Juice of two Lemons ; Di- 
gitalis Purpura, half an ounce ; Old Cogniac, four ounces ; Syrup 
Balsam Tolu, six ounces ; Scilla Maratima, two ounces ; Gum Accacia 
Emulsion, three ounces. Put the above ingredients over a gentle fire 
in a sauce-pan ; add two wineglassfuls of cold water, stir occasional- 
ly, and let the mixture boil four minutes ; take off the scum (if any 
arises) , and strain through a fine seive. Of this admirable Balsamic 
Mixture let one teaspoonful be taken every four hours during the day 
and evening : if it causes any nausea, which is very seldom the case, the 
dose may be temporarily diminished, or left off for a day or two, and 
then recommenced with a lesser dose — gradually increasing to a table- 
spoonful, as the condition of the patient's stomach will permit. The 
Iodide is also to be used at the same time. 

\* To make the tincture Cannabis Indica, take four 
pounds of the leaves of the plant, and digest for four days in 
one gallon of alcohol, in a glass vessel ; then express the 
liquid ; put it in a glass vessel in a sand bath, and evaporate 
the alcohol. Of that extract take one ounce to a pint of al- 
cohol, which makes the tincture, and use as directed. Great 
care should be taken in procuring this invaluable medicine, 
which can only be found in Hindostan, Persia, Syria, and 
some of the mountainous parts of India. 

I would remind those who may wish to use this Prescrip- 
tion, that they must be cautious and not confound this Can- 
nabis Indica with the plant which grows in the United 



246 TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTION. 

States, and classed by some authors on Medical Botany with 
the East India, when in fact their medical proprieties are en- 
tirely different ; while the first would help, the latter would 
injure. 

In consequence of the great difficulty of procuring the 
Cannabis Indica pure, in this country, I have been compelled 
to import it myself direct from Calcutta, through a medical 
friend of mine residing in the East ; by which means, I am 
in the receipt of a limited supply of the genuine article, which 
is as much superior to that to be found in the shops, and 
regularly sold for the pure Cannabis, as dross is to gold. 

The above Preparation has been administered some 
hundreds of times, and I am fully persuaded that if it is tolera- 
bly well managed, there is hardly a case of this malady in 
which it will fail of being efficacious ; nor has it ever once 
deceived me. The medicine ought to be given in such doses 
as to produce but a trifling nausea, or sickness at the stomach, 
which soon passes off; but it is never intended to vomit. 
There is no desirable effect that may not be expected from 
this singularly successful remedy.* For persons of a weak or 
nervous temperament, it might be well to commence with a 
smaller quantity and increase. 

For the night sweats, I have found the Nitrous Acid very 
efficacious in a majority of instances. The combination in 
which I generally employ it is the following : Mix a drachm 
of the strongest acid with four ounces of water, and then add 
half a pint of the best French brandy. One teaspoonful or 
less, three times a day, morning, noon, and at bed-time, is the 
proper quantity to be taken, until the desired object is accom- 
plished. 

The following cases are given by way of illustrating more 



* Those afflicted who do not wish the trouble of making the above-men- 
tioned Preparation, can have, as a favor, the medicine sent to them, in a case, 
by express. Be particular in giving, plainly, the symptoms of the case, 
&c, together with the name, address, State, county, and town. Address : 
Charles D. Hammond, M.D., 61 BUecker Street, New York City. 



CASES. 24 1 

fully the course of treatment pursued in my practice, with a 
success unprecedented in the annals of medical science ; they 
will be perused with considerable interest by the intelligent 
reader. 

CASES. 

A. B., a resident of this city, and by profession a tailor, was reduced 
to a mere skeleton, with all the symptoms of confirmed consumption, 
brought on from having taken cold, being removed to a cold damp 
room in very cold weather. After having suffered for some time with 
the cough, expectoration, &c.,he put himself under my treatment, and 
in less than a fortnight thereafter, by pursuing the precise treatment 
laid down in the foregoing pages, a lump, which appeared to the pa- 
tient to be as large as a goose's egg, broke in the right lung, which 
immediately relieved him, and by a persevering course of treatment, 
he became hale and hearty. 

C. D., a lady from Connecticut, who was laboring under what was 
thought to be consumption of the lungs by her medical advisers, 
came under my treatment some time in the May of '57. The symp- 
toms in this case were great debility, emaciation, expectoration, low- 
ness of spirits, great relaxation, &c, all of which reduced her to the 
shadow of a shade, and caused both herself and friends to despair of 
her ever recovering her health. Through a former lady patient who 
had been under my care for a similar complaint, she was induced to 
consult me respecting the possibility of a cure being effected in her 
case. Suffice it to say, that by a steady perseverance in the remedies 
laid down in this book, the Consumptive Preparation given on page 
245, riding horseback, diet, &c, I had the pleasure of restoring her to 
health, strong and hearty, in less than three months from the time I 
first prescribed for her. 

E. F., late banker, 61 years of age, acknowledges with gratitude that 
he received infinite benefit from seven bottles of the consumptive com- 
pound, having thereby been restored from an asthma, cough, violent 
wheezing of the lungs, strong hypochondria, lowness of spirits, great 
relaxation, weakness of body, restless nights, unpleasant dreams, all 
which reduced him very much ; he is now lusty, strong, and hale, 
and enjoys better health than he has experienced for these thirty-five 
years. I should add, that this gentleman took three more bottles of 
the Preparation above-mentioned, and the Yeratruh Viride and 
Iodine. 



248 cases. 

To Br. Hammond, New York. 

Dear Sir :— It would be injustice to the afflicted as well as yourself, 
were I not to declare that I am restored from a state of deplorable de- 
bility, weakness, and the horrible train of symptoms attendant on a 
nervous and consumptive complaint of long standing, by the Consump- 
tive Preparation. My complaint so emaciated me as to be almost incapa- 
ble of performing the duty in which I have been engaged (as mate of the 

, from this port to Jamaica) , at sea or at home. But fortunately, 

I can now say that that valuable medicine of yours has restored my health 
and invigorated my constitution , which had previously been impaired by 
great exertion and heat of climate. I can further assure you, that my 
wife has taken the Preparation, &c, for a complaint in her stomach, 
attended with a variety of distressing and alarming symptoms of de- 
bility, with success, being now, thank God, perfectly free from them. 
Should this letter be deemed proper for publication, you certainly have 
my permission. 

I am, dear sir, your obedient servant. 

N. B. — I had intended publishing several other interesting 
cases of cures in consumptive complaints, but want of space 
will preclude the possibility of my doing so ; all who feel 
interested, may, by calling on me at my office, see quite a 
collection of recommendatory letters from persons of standing 
and intelligence, who have been benefited by the treatment 
herein recommended, as practiced by the author, and who 
has fall permission to refer patients to them. 



CONCLUDING- CHAPTER. 



In the preceding pages of this work, the author has en- 
deavored to present such a view of the diseases treated upon, 
their mode of action, and the consequences resulting there- 
from, as will, he is persuaded, lead every intelligent person 
who is the victim of those indulgences from which they arise, 
to apply early for medical aid ; by doing so, they cannot fail 
to receive a speedy, safe, and permanent cure. But when, 
from a false delicacy, delay takes place, and the disease is 
allowed insidiously to make inroads upon the constitution, 
and to sap, as it were, the very springs and foundation of life, 
then a longer perseverance in remedial treatment becomes 
necessary to remove its effects : and it depends upon the pru- 
dence and judgment of the practitioner, in conducting the 
treatment, whether the patient is not subjected to a state of 
ill-health which shall render him an invalid for life. How 
many young men are daily cut off from this cause, and made 
untimely tenants of the tomb ! The system, attenuated by 
the action of mercury, and other poisonous minerals, yclept 
" vegetable medicines," its lack of vitality is particularly felt 
in the circulation of the blood through the lungs, the vitiated 
quality of which occasions the solids to give way, producing 
spitting of blood, that prelude to Consumption, which una- 
voidably ensues in such cases. 

Another consequence from the same origin, or the improper 
use of medicines in the young, particularly, is the nervous 
disease termed paralysis, or palsy. Formerly paralysis was 
only a disease of age, of that exhausted state of the consti- 
tution which the decay of old age naturally produces. Now 
11* 



250 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

view the streets of the Metropolis ; what numbers are met, in 
the flower of life, in the very vigor of manhood, dragging 
after them a lifeless limb ! arrested in the heyday of every 
enjoyment, by placing themselves under the care of those who 
have improperly treated them ; or, through their ignorance, 
exposed them to circumstances which ought to have been 
avoided at the time they were under the influence of medi- 
cine. 

To prevent all these bad effects, I wish to impress every 
one, by the strongest reasons, with the importance of an 
early application of the proper means of cure : they will be 
amply repaid for this prudent attention to their health, in 
the enjoyment of years of comfort, which the thoughtless, 
neglecting these precautions when in their power, look back 
to with no little regret. 

In offering this advice (it is the result of thirteen years' ex- 
perience and observation in Venereal Practice) , the author 
can say, without doing violence to the truth, that there is no 
form of these Diseases of the Seminal and Sexual Organs, 
but what he has seen and treated under all the variety which 
is known to attend them, in both sexes. 

Spermatorrhoea, or that state of bodily and mental weak- 
ness and prostration which is frequently designated by the 
term Nervous Debility, is by far too common to admit of a 
question as to its extensive prevalence. It is seen everywhere 
and every day — in the consumptive youth — in the irrascible 
but unenergetic man — in the shambling gait and pale or sal- 
low visage — in the dull expressionless eye, the averted look, the 
sudden start. It is seen in our family and social intercourse, 
exhibiting itself in unaccountable whims and caprices — in 
absence of mind and aversion to conversation — in hypochon- 
drical fancies — in a dislike to exertion of any kind — and often 
in that condition of mental and bodily unhealth where a 
man's friends will kindly call him " unfortunate," and pity his 
declining energies and his want of success in everything he 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 251 

undertakes. All these and many other evidences are found 
in every one's daily experience, and sufficiently attest the 
universality of that class of ailments comprehended within the 
general expression, ;i nervous debility/' Doubt or ambi- 
guity only arises when we come to seek for the sources 
of these pervading affections. The family doctor may be 
called in. Suppose him to be both a respectable and a skill- 
ful man. well up in all the art and mystery of his profession, 
of large experience, of comprehensive study, and with the 
reputation of a successful practitioner. Grant all this : the 
danger is that he is tied down by professional etiquette. There 
are certain causes of disease which he must not investigate, 
certain maladies he must not prescribe for, certain wounds 
he is forbidden to probe. Let us see what he does. He may 
or may not look at the patient's tongue and feel his pulse, 
for these two diagnostics are not so much in vogue as they 
have been, and must be sparingly resorted to by any fashion- 
able doctor. But he will inquire as to the state of his pa- 
tient's bowels — ask him how he eats, how he sleeps, and how 
he feels — get him to perform an amateur cough — probably 
apply the stethoscope, and, finding nothing the matter with 
the lungs, get out of the difficulty in the approved profession- 
al way, by writing a pres:ription for some harmless tonic — 
" a tablespoonful to be taken every three hours " — and 
recommending immediate change of air and great quietness. 
Possibly he may not depart without what he flatters himself 
are a searching question or two, intended to draw from the 
patient a confession as to whether he has been injuring him- 
self by drink. But he never asks him this question — 

"DO YOU COMMIT SELF-ABUSE?" 

We must not blame him too severely for the omission, 
though it is an all important one ; for in all likelihood the 
patient would have shrunk from confiding such a secret to a 
man who, however personally worthy, was his near neighbor, 
and one whom he must calculate upon frequently meeting in 



252 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

after life. One of the bad consequences of this criminal 
frailty is the oppressive feeling of self-degradation which in 
most cases haunts its victim, when once he becomes alive to 
its wickedness. For the patient to open his breast, therefore, 
on such a subject, to the medical attendant of the family, 
would require a power of stern and daring resolution such as 
few are gifted with, least of all those who have given them- 
selves up to this enervating vice ; for how, he would ask 
himself, could he ever again look that man in the face without 
remembering that he knew the secret of his degrading weak- 
ness? And even could he restrain visible emotion, how 
could he help thinking — and being wretched with the thought 
— that the doctor, though outwardly polite, in his heart re- 
garded him with contempt and loathing ? Perhaps, there- 
fore, it is better that the treatment of this self-abasing dis- 
ease should be left — as it practically is — to those who de- 
vote their whole time and attention to it. The patient, thus 
situated, is encouraged to open his mind to a practitioner situ- 
ated thus ; for he knows that he is, and will remain a stranger 
to him. 

Unlike those who insinuate that they do not find it at 
all necessary or desirable even to see their patients, the Au- 
thor deems it not only highly desirable, but in those cases of 
Involuntary Seminal Emissions, when an immediate cure is 
desired, essential to have a personal interview with his pa- 
tients, in order to effect the object in view. But this fact 
apart, it is always pleasant for him to have such interview ; 
and, no doubt, it will also prove equally agreeable, as it al- 
ways has hitherto, to most patients as well. Those " doctors " 
who insinuate, as far as they dare to, that they would rather 
not see than to see their patrons, do so doubtless for reasons 
or motives best known to themselves. No honest man, how- 
ever, should be afraid to meet his patient face to face ; 
whether before or after treatment. But the writer would 
suggest, to avoid any unpleasantness that might otherwise 



CONCLUDING CHAPTEK. 253 

attend a personal interview, on the part of some patients, 
that it would be as well for the patient to state his case as 
minutely as possible in a letter, first, before calling in person, 
so that at the interview all that he will have to do will be, to 
mention the name or initials- — which ever he may prefer — 
that he signed in his letter, and also mentioning the date 
when such letter was mailed. There would thus be no un- 
pleasant questions to ask on the part of the surgeon, nor any 
such to be replied to on the part of the patient. Indeed, in 
numerous instances, this style of correspondence is not only 
the better, but also the more expeditious mode of conduct- 
ing the cure. Most persons suffering from seminal debility, 
will prefer writing a description of their case, in which a 
very natural trepidation might lead them to pass over or for- 
get some of the points most essential for the conscientious 
physician to know. But by a letter the patient can sit 
quietly down and make a plain record of his symptoms and 
the indiscreet acts which have produced them, unconfused by 
those mental distractions which are occasionally attendant 
upon personal communication in matters so delicate. Hence 
we generally find that a written statement leads to a more 
speedy and safe diagnosis in an interview. We may further 
remark that the tacit arrangement by which the faculty, as a 
general rule, ignore this disease, has this additional advan- 
tage, that the devotion of a professional man exclusively to 
this one branch of curative science secures a much larger 
field of experience, and a much more certain amount of 
knowledge, in that one branch, than can be looked for in any 
ordinary surgeon or physician who undertakes to cure all the 
complicated " ills that flesh is heir to." Hence it is that the 
multiform evils of self-pollution, and their modes of remedy, 
are so well understood by a specialist who has devoted a 
professional life to its investigation and treatment. 

All this, however, does not justify the neglect which so 
serious a matter has, up to this time, met at the hands of the 



254 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

medical faculty generally. But we shall not enlarge on this 
point ; it will be enough now to say that in very many in- 
stances, such as the one we have above feebly pictured, the 
real source of the complaint will be found in self-pollution. 
We do not say in all instances. Far be it from us to assert 
that there are not frequent cases of nervous weakness inde- 
pendent of this criminal cause. We know that there are 
such, and the fact that they are usual is pregnant with a 
practical significance, which we request the reader not to 
overlook. The general physician, or surgeon, makes no dis- 
tinction between such cases and those which have their origin in 
self abuse. He is called in to attend a patient, and finding 
some of the usual symptoms of nervous debility, he at once, 
and as a matter of course, concludes that the disorder arises 
from some of the constitutional or functional causes which do 
in reality sometimes produce it. He never deems it his 
duty — he has never been taught such a duty, and it is un- 
professional — to ask himself or his patients whether it may 
not be the consequence of a secret habit of self-exhaustion. 

But if the real cause be undiscovered, there can be no 
chance of success in the treatment. It must be abundantly 
clear to the humblest comprehension, that if a patient is suf- 
fering from the effects of bodily waste, produced by his own 
defiling hand, and you treat him as if the cause were external 
and altogether remote from this, you are only aggravating 
his sufferings by nauseous drugs, and perhaps ill-spared ex- 
pense, and tantalizing him with ever-receding hope, until step 
by step he comes down to his last pillow, and may only know 
in the next world what it was that killed him ; for, although 
the conscience gives warning to the self-defiler as he comes to 
years of reflection that he is doing something morally wrong, 
yet very few indeed ever dream of the physical consequences, 
unless they discover their incompetency with the other sex ; 
and even then, though painfully humbled and mortified, they 
are not aware, unless it is pointed out to them, that by per- 



CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 255 

sistence in the habit, they are digging up the very roots of 
their constitution, and draining out the vital sap of their 
earthly frame. In order to a certain method of cure, the seat 
and origin of the disease must be known. This can only be 
ascertained, in such cases as we write of, from the patient him- 
self. He is not likely, as we have shown, to tell the family 
surgeon — the latter is still less likely to ask him — and betwixt 
this perilous reserve on each side, he may finally and ignor- 
antly be crushed, unless our little book should fall into his 
hands, warning him of the gulf on whose brink he totters. 

It has been the author's aim in the preceding pages to show 
that Spermatorrhoea, in an overwhelming majority of instances, 
has no other cause than that of self-pollution — that self-pollu- 
tion invariably produces nervous debility in one or other of 
its forms — and that this same vice of self-pollution is one of 
frightful prevalence. 

It will be seen, that, although the writer has endeavored 
to render the reader acquainted with the manner of treat- 
ment, by the most approved modes, in curing disease, he by 
no means recommends a reliance to be placed on " self-cure ;" 
for, as Franklin observes, " there is much truth in the adage 
that ' a man who attempts to be his own physician, hath a 
fool for his patient.' " 

Stupid and therefore nugatory attempts are constantly 
being made, however, of late years, by a certain class of per- 
sons, to render a seeming knowledge of the Treatment of 
these diseases so familiar, that every unthinking person may 
be induced to try to cure himself. This is a dangerous and 
reckless mistake, which many, doubtless, now, when it is, 
alas! too late, regret having in their folly committed. The 
remedies proper to cure these I may say vital diseases, are of 
an active nature ; they may be compared to edge-tools, which, 
unless skillfully handled, are very apt to prove more mischiev- 
ous than beneficial : if they are capable of doing much good, 
they are also capable of doing much injury, in the same propor- 



85C ::y:irr:y:- :za?tz?.. 



i his profession- 
it for a patient 



The author, therefore, considers all popular tracts, and ob- 

s;ri7 ■zLirilyu". .:.:... -':::'.:. -'_::'_ >■:■: ~. :: i^:i.:^:f ■■ silf- 
care," as insidious productions, and tending more to mislead 
than to give serious and sound advice, In the present work, 
he has avoided this dangerous error. He desires the patient to 
be acquainted with the nature of these diseases, but to dread 
:iir- lls :_:- ":.v_t :; ""..-;-:.'.:'_ :.....". ri; rvr^fi: : ... .'. :: :iir:~ 
himself, when attacked, against their evils into the hands of 
those who are most capable of restoring him. by a proper 
and safe application of judiciously-selected remedies, to 
Hlalih :.il ::s V.r-ssiiirs. 



APPENDIX. 



TO THE PUBLIC. 



Having frequently been asked, of late, if certain individ- 
uals using the name of Eicord in their advertisements are 
really treating diseases of the Sexual System in accordance 
with that distinguished surgeon's elaborate and scientific 
method, I would here avail myself of the occasion to state, 
for the benefit of the Afflicted, that I am the Originator of, 
and the only Medical Practitioner publicly and exclusively 
engaged in, Ricord's Practice in this country j* that I am 
the only person who does not so practice this Branch of the 
Healing Art under an assumed name ; and that those imita- 
tors who unblushingly style themselves " graduates," " assist- 
ants," &c, are simply impostors. 

I regret that my attention was not sooner called to this 

* [From the American (Eclectic) Medical and Surgical Journal, N. Y., 
June 1st, 1851.] 

" Ricord's Practice. — We deem it a duty to inform the public that a med- 
ical gentleman of experience and ability, Dr. C. D. HAMMOND, has opened an 
office for the treatment of a Specialty, in the success of which is involved, not 
only the health and welfare of the patient, but what is of still greater im- 
portance, of Ms future progeny. Dr. H. is a pupil of Professors Carnochan 
and ValentineMott, and having witnessed the imperfect manner in which those 
diseases were being treated, went to Paris [1845] and studied under the distin- 
guished Ricord for several years, and has now returned [1850] to this city, to 
endeavor to do for New York what that world-renowned surgeon has done for 
Paris, viz. : To rescue those (who have been unfortunate enough to contract 
that dire disease) , from the hands of merciless quacks, whose only desire is to 
obtain the fee, caring little about rendering its equivalent — a cure. Dr. Ham- 
mond' s testimonials, among the most important of which is one from Prof. 
Carnochan, who is conceded to be the greatest of living Surgeons (American 
or European) , and of whom, as being an American — " The Dupuytren and Sir 
Benjamin Brodie of America," — the republic is justly proud, will be sufficient 
guarantee that he is capable of performing all he promises. His office is at 
No. 55 Greenwich Avenue." 



260 TO THE PUBLIC. 

matter ; for, Ricord's Practice must necessarily have suffered, 
to some extent, in public estimation, with regard to the 
efficacy and superiority claimed for it over all other methods 
of cure in this mischievous class of diseases, through the im- 
positioos and malpractice of those soidisant surgeons. 

The numerous pilferers of my professional notices and 
works who have sprung up, mushroom-like, within the past 
year or two, have finally rendered it necessary, in justice to 
Ricord's Practice and the afflicted, for me to place myself 
more prominently before the community, through the press, 
than I had originally deemed requisite, had intended, 01 
desired. 

In this connection, it may be as well to mention that in 
1854 I located in Broadway, at 516, for the purpose of pub- 
licly practising my Specialty, and making it, consequently, 
more useful to the afflicted, by causing it to be more widely 
known, and informed the public of the same through the medi- 
um of the newsrJaper press ; the caption or heading of my cards 
being then, as now, an original one, namely : Ricord's Prac- 
tice. But finding upon trial that thoroughfare entirely too 
conspicuous, and therefore disagreeable to the majority of 
patients, at the expiration of my lease I was constrained to 
change the location for my present office, which is much 
more convenient, being at once both central and retired, and 
but a few steps east from Broadway, withal, where citizens, 
and strangers visiting the city, readily find me. 

Up to the above mentioned date, Ricord's Practice was 
comparatively but little known to the afflicted at large ; but 
now the country is swarming with a certain class of persons 
advertising over " Ricord's Practice," the filthy stuff with 
which venereal quack and abortion advertisements are usual- 
ly filled. 

In conclusion, I would say, that Ricord's Practice, when 
honestly and judiciously employed, in the hands of skillful and 
experienced medical men, is universally acknowledged to be 



TO THE PUBLIC. 261 

both prompt and entirely reliable in its action ; those, how- 
ever, who confound this admirable system with the " Ricord's 
Practice " of charlatanism, will, it is to be feared, when too 
late, discover their mistake in their experience of those suffer- 
ings and despair which must be felt to be appreciated — they 
certainly cannot be described ! 



The following remarks admirably apply not only to the 
above-mentioned class of individuals, but to those mercenary 
persons, " whose name is legion," engaged in the so-called 
" patent medicine" traffic generally, — with their cordials, sar- 
saparillas, exhilerants, balsams, pills, instruments, &c, &c, 
&c. Every word of it is, alas ! too true ; and well would 
it be for the afflicted, were they more generally aware of the 
facts :- — 

[From the Neiv York Weekly Critic, June, 1856.] 
M QUACKS. 
" Quacks are generally an infernal set of scoundrels. Nine- 
tenths of them ought to be in the Penitentiary — if anybody 
ought to be there, which we doubt. How is it that these 
ruffians have so long escaped newspaper criticism? The 
papers teem, day after day, with lies enough to send a whole 
nation to everlasting perdition — if any one is to be punished 
in that awful way, which we also doubt — thousands of robbed 
and poisoned men and women know the statements in the ad- 
vertisements of these scoundrels to be unblushing lies, bare- 
faced swindles, yet they are repeated, week after week, and 
have been so repeated with impunity for years. This is 
not going to last long, however. The quacks have escaped 
so far, for the reason that they contrived to impress proprie- 
tors of newspapers with the idea that they, the quacks, are 
liberal patrons of the press. It is not strange that men who 
have managed to gull three-fourths of the nation into buying 
and using these nostrums have been able to exercise their 



262 TO THE PUBLIC. 

persuasive powers, backed by a few dollars, successfully upon 
editors . But we rejoice too see that the race of quackery is 
nearly run. Newspapers all over the country are now alive 
to the fact that quack advertisements are less profitable than 
any others ; that the quacks, themselves, are the meanest, and 
most illiberal, and most insolent of their customers ; that they 
require more for their money than honest men, and that their 
advertisements defile the columns of a paper, and drive away 
in disgust respectable and generous patrons. There are many 
papers now in the United States, and their number is rapidly 
increasing, who refuse to take quack advertisements at any 
price — we do not mean religious, but literary and political 
papers. 

" We are using somewhat strong language. We wish it 
were stronger. Quacks do not deserve to be treated with the 
leniency of ordinary swindlers. They belong to the very 
worst class of ruffians. Their whole life is a lie — their busi- 
ness is murder — heartless, remorseless, cowardly murder. 

" A scamp advertises that his compound will cure twenty 
different diseases, and in all cases, and some poor devil who 
earns a dollar a day upon which his family of seven have, 
heaven only knows how, to subsist, buys for his sick wife three 
or four times as much as the advertisement declares will 
infallibly cure her. His wife takes the medicines, but does 
not get well ; nor does she exhibit any symptom of returning 
health. Her husband buys more — ten, twenty times more 
than is advertised to be necessary. The poor fellow has 
stinted his stomach, and those of his young ones, to supply 
his wife with medicines. They have all gone ill-clad through 
the winter, and some of the young ones have been shivered 
into the incipient stages of consumption. But their suffer- 
ings are in vain. The poor mother gets no better. On the 
contrary, she has been gradually growing worse. At length 
she dies. Now, we ask, ought not the vender of the pretend- 
ed remedy to be held up as a common swindler ? Ought he 



TO THE PUBLIC. 263 

not to be prosecuted as such ? And should not a healthy 
public opinion, in the efficacy of which we have more faith 
than in legal enactments and prosecution, assign the Slow 
Poisoner for gain a position morally inferior to the murderer 
who does his work * with neatness and dispatch.' 

" The prevalence and fatality of many of the diseases of 
this age, especially those of women, are ascribable to the 
myriads of pills and ' girdles/ mixtures and plasters, oint- 
ments and liniments, that are advertised, from one end of 
the Union to the other, to cure ten times as many things as 
they ever do, or can cure, and that have been swallowed by 
the people, and their parents before them, and are swallowed 
by the rising generation, directly from the teaspoon, and in- 
directly from the mother's breast. Besides the positive 
harm these nostrums do, they are also negatively baneful, in 
that, while taking them, patients neglect to seek the true 
remedy, the disease grows stronger, finally gets the upper 
hand of its victims, until death closing their career, they leave, 
as a legacy, a half-dozen unhealthy children, who grow up to 
be duped, dosed, and to die, as their parents died before 
them." 



Jntesiwg J[ nfcrrmaibtt, 

THE NEW REMEDIES, ADVERTISED NOSTRUMS ; 
TERMS, ETC. 

The improved postal arrangements and system of postage, 
having extended the sphere of the author's practice and use- 
fulness, and the circulation of his medical works throughout 
society, having resulted in a vast and wide-spread correspond- 
ence, to which he is compelled to devote every moment that 
he can set apart from office practice, he thinks it expedient, 
lest misapprehensions should arise on this head, to state his 
matured opinion in reference to it. 

In all instances, when convenient or practicable, a personal 
interview is beneficial and desirable ; in extreme cases, which, 
happily, are comparatively rare, it is even of real importance ; 
and, in those cases where the patient desires a speedy cure of 
Spermatorrhoea, Impotence, &c, through the medium of the 
Medicated Bougie, it is absolutely necessary ; also, in cases 
requiring operations for the removal of malformations. 
With these exceptions, however, the complaints treated upon 
in this book, as well as those syphilitic and other sexual dis- 
orders laid down in Medical Information for the Million* 
may be successfully treated by letter ,f provided the descrip- 
tion of the case be carefully and plainly given, in the patient's 
or writer's own natural style. In this way, persons can, by 
thus opening a channel of communication with the surgeon, 

* Including also scrofula, king's evil, old ulcers, eruptions, mercurial rheu- 
matism, hereditary diseases in children and adults, and all other Chronic 
Diseases, from Impurity of Blood, in both sexes, and which are frequently 
pronounced " incurable.' y 

f For some years past, a portion of Dr. Hammond's practice has been 
conducted by correspondence exclusive!}'. 



INTERESTING INFORMATION. 265 

be cured, even when residing in the most distant parts, and 
without additional expense. In these cases a list of questions, 
expressly prepared for the party applying for it, is furnished 
to those who cannot visit New York. By this means, two 
especial difficulties, which form the subject of daily com- 
plaint, are at once obviated, namely : 

The surgeon, if his practice be extensive, may be enabled to 
give but a brief and insufficient interview ; or the patient, from 
diffidence, may be indisposed to relate what he would not 
hesitate to commit to paper. Moreover, in detailing his case 
by letter, whilst there would be no temptation to suppress 
facts and circumstances, of which the full and explicit dis- 
closure is essential, an all-important object would be attained 
in the writer studying more the particulars, than the style of 
the narrative. When, however, the above objections do not 
exist, a personal interview, as before mentioned, is more agree- 
able and preferable to the author. 

Dr. H. deems it proper to state, that unless he considers a 
case curable, he will decline treating ; therefore, patients be- 
fore placing themselves under treatment, may ivrite, stating all 
the details, when an opinion of the case will be returned. 

Those, then, who desire to consult the author, are cordially 
invited to do so, in the full assurance that a steady resolution 
in following out his peculiar treatment, which involves no ex- 
treme measures j will secure a speedy restoration to health and 
its comforts, both physical and mental. 

Persons applying for treatment are requested to be as 
minute as possible in the description of their cases, as to the 
duration of the complaint, the symptoms, temperament, com- 
plexion, age, general habits, occupation, &c 

The author's new ^Etherized Medicinal Preparations, 
adapted to each particular form and variety of disease, being 
concentrated essences, contain the active principle only of the 
ingredients from which they are extracted, in his own labor- 
atory, and under his personal supervision. Thus, these reme- 
12 



266 



INTERESTING INFORMATION. 



dies possess the desirable advantage of being of but little 
bulk, whereby they are rendered very convenient of transport- 
ation, at trifling cost for carriage, even to the remotest parts. 
The Preparations are all gelatinized and confectioned, after 
the recent and greatly improved French methods of M. 
Jceckel, by which means they are rendered both tasteless and 
odorless. 

Being in the form of ovoid globules and granules, each of 
which contains a given quantity of the medicine, very exact- 
ly calculated to the fraction of a grain or drop, these reme- 
dies are, perhaps, the most convenient for patients of any ex- 
tant, both as regards the facility of regulating the dose with 
great ease and precision, and the unsuspicious appearance of 
them, which permits of their being carried about in one's 
pocket, in the trunk or valise when traveling ; or they may 
even be left about the room, without exciting any particular 
attention, thus obviating all fear of exposure, &c. They are 
put up in portable tin cases, with the covers soldered on, 
which effectually prevents observation, and insures the medi- 
cines against deterioration by damp, &c, in every variety of 
climate. Each of these small cases is a complete medicine 
chest in itself, for the particular disease for which it is intend- 
ed. 

Written directions adapted to each patient's complaint ac- 
company every case, and contain full and explicit advice for 
all the different stages and symptoms of the complaint ; in 
short, every requisite for a successful treatment is included 
therein. 

These little cases are sent to any address in the United 
States, Canada, South America, the West Indies, &c, &c. ; 
the expense even to the most distant parts being trifling, 
whether by mail or other conveyance. 

To prevent frauds upon the afflicted, they are hereby inform- 
ed that these Preparations can be obtained genuine only from 
Dr. Hammond direct. As has been mentioned elsewhere, it is 



INTERESTING INFORMATION. 



261 



rank charlatanism, and, in all instances where the medicines 
employed are powerful, highly dangerous, besides, to pre- 
scribe remedies without taking into deliberate consideration 
the individual peculiarities of each and every patient's 
case. And it is precisely herein that the pernicious influence 
of " patent " medicines on the public health is rendered ob- 
vious to the commonest mind. He who offers, indiscrimi- 
nately, a valuable (or potent) medicinal remedy to the pub- 
lic, for the cure of diseases, is either a fool or a knave, or 
both ; in other words he is a quack, in the clearest sense of 
the term. For if a man is enlightened and honest, the truth 
of the above remarks will readily suggest itself to his under- 
standing, and he will act in conformity with its dictates. 

It is a singularly notorious fact among all — save uninitia- 
ted patients — that no patent medicines, so called, but especial- 
ly those offered by venders for the cure of venereal diseases, 
" scrofula/' seminal debility, &c, ever cure ; and just so 
long as people confide in them, instead of in the honorable 
and competent (because experienced) venereal practitioner, 
just so long will the diseases in question continue their 
ravages, unchecked, on society. Would to God that those 
who blindly trust to such precious " specifics" for the cure of 
venereal and seminal complaints, could be made to realize this, 
to them, most vital truth, namely : That patent medicines can 
never cure, because, in the first place, they are not calculated, 
by reason of their mode of preparation, and by virtue of their 
composition, to produce any such effect ; and, in the second 
place, the afflicted do not understand the real or precise na- 
ture of the disease under which they are laboring, once in 
five hundred instances. And yet this fact, alone, is absolutely 
of vital importance for all persons to comprehend, who, if 
they have been so unfortunate as to contract any form of 
sexual malady, desire to recover their health again — or at 
least, who do not wish to have their constitutions irreparably 
destroyed, through the agency of wrong or pernicious medi- 



268 INTERESTING INFORMATION. 

cines. For if a man (or woman) have a gonorrhoea, for ex- 
ample, he does not know whether it may not be complicated 
with urethral chancre, for instance. (See Essay 2 and 6, 
Fart I). How, then, is the nostrum to cure in that case? 
If it be syphilis, the vender knows it not. If it be " a clap " 
only, the apothecary or " agent" will be quite as likely to 
furnish the applicant with a mercurial preparation, as he will 
with any other — for he, too, is as ignorant as the patient, 
concerning what is proper in the one case, or what is im- 
pi oper in the other. What is the necessary result ? Why, 
of course, if the disease be syphilis, the poison is not only not 
eradicated, but it is even rendered more virulent, probably, 
by the mercury ; and so the victim to false delicacy (in not 
going to a physician at first), supposing himself cured, or 
that the poison has been rendered innocuous by the " specific," 
goes on to infect wife or husband, mistress or lover, as the 
case may be : and thus the dreadful disease is indefinitely 
disseminated among the people, to the destruction of future 
generations ! The only positive effect of nostrums, then, is 
to lull the victim into a False Security : they will never 
cure his disease, however. 

Again : How is it that Stricture — to say nothing of in- 
fection — is brought on? The inflammatory symptoms of 
gonorrhoea (pain, scalding, purulent discharge, &c), in due 
course of time disappear — not by virtue of the nostrum, by 
any means ! — but from natural causes. " Why, then I am 
cured, and, ergo, the nostrum has cured me," says the pa- 
tient. Alas! not so my good friend: Examine, if y ou 
please, the orifice or mouth of the urinary passage : do you 
not detect an adhesive moisture — no matter how slight, 
or small soever in quantity it may be — of the part, glueing, 
as it were, the opening or lips of the urethra together ? You 
do, in ninety-nine instances out of a hundred. Well then, that 
sticky transparent mucus will, sooner or later, if not eradi- 
cated by proper treatment, give rise to stricture. (See Es- 



INTERESTING INFORMATION. 269 

say 5, Part I.) For this moisture indicates the presence of 
a chronic inflammation of the lining membrane of the urethra, 
to which circumstance, the origin of stricture is also due. 
Such are the facts, good reader ; the decision, however, with 
regard to the employment of advertised nostrums, remains 
with you. 

If Patients would only Divest themselves of False 
Delicacy, and be Properly Cured, by some Competent 
Venereal Practitioner, Pulmonary Consumption,* and 
all other scrofulous diseases, which owe their appear- 
ANCE in the Children to Constitutional (Secondary) 
Syphilis in their Parents or Progenitors,! would, in 
due course of time, cease to afflict mankind. 

For the benefit of those who may wish to consult the 
author, either in person or by letter, they are informed that 
his fee is §5 ; microscopical and chemical analysis, the same.J 
When clearly addressed, letters, &c, for Dr. H., invariably 
come promptly and safely to hand. 

Consultations in the principal languages. 



* Pulmonary Consumption (PMhisis ■ PulmonaXis) is the great type of 
Scrofula. In its incipient, or first stage, it may be cured, if skillfully treated ; 
but if allowed to enter upon the second stage, the disease ia absolutely in- 
curable. [See chapters on Consumption, Part II.] 

f See Lugol on Scrofula, American or English edition. 

X Analysis of blood, saliva, and perspiration, for the discovery of mercury , 
&c'., also made, upon the same terms. 




PARTICULAR NOTICE. 



DR. HAMMONDS MEDICATED BOUGIE. 

As a general answer to the oft-repeated question, " Does 
the employment, or introduction of the ' Medicated Bougie' in- 
to the urinary passage give rise to much pain, or is the pain 
likely to continue for any length of time after the operation?" 
the author would say : It is not pretended (by him) that there 
is absolutely no disagreeable sensation experienced in the 
passing of an instrument, of any kind, into the urethra, as such 
would be deceptive and untrue ; but he is, nevertheless, free 
to inform patients, positively, that the introduction by him 
of his Medicated Bougie is not accompanied with pain, or 
that which, in ninety-nine instances in a hundred, would be call- 
ed pain by an adult. The cauterization of an insignificant ven- 
ereal sore, though it were no larger than a canary seed, is at- 
tended by ten times the amount of pain resulting from the 
introduction of this Bougie. Furthermore, even the disagree- 
able sensation above alluded to does not occur, in any case, 
no matter how sensitive soever a person may be with regard 
to pain, after the first or second introduction of the instru- 
ment. Neither is there any pain felt whatever a moment 
after the withdrawal of the Bougie, nor at any time thereaf- 
ter. Finally, there is no danger of inducing inflammation in 
sensitive persons, through the medium of this improvement* 
The duration of the operation does not exceed two minutes. 

"CARPING CAVILERS," 
Who may choose to criticize ungenerously the author's 

* In this connection, we have employed the above word in its special sense 
entirely, and mean, in the language of Walker, " an advance in something rfs- 
Hmble." 



CARPING GATHERS. 2T1 

Theory of Spermatorrhoea, &c, are informed that he pays 
very little attention to mere arbitrary or technical distinc- 
tions, made by anatomists, and others, in their descriptions 
of the seminal apparatus, or the testes and their appendages. 
" Vessels," " seminiferous E tubes," " canals," " ducts," " vesi- 
cles," etc., being looked upon by us in that light, we speak 
of them synonymously, and for this additional reason : The 
entire apparatus being, in fact, but a continuous anastomo- 
sing convoluted tube, duct, canal, vessel, vesicle, &c, — in the 
human male, at least. And the author is further of opinion, 
that one Henricus Adolphus, who wrote in the latter part of 
the sixteenth century, knew more about the seminal system 
than many of our modern anatomists — he being the only 
author, so far as we know, who has mentioned the duplica- 
tures of the mucous membrane of the seminal ducts ; or, as 
they may, with propriety, be called, the semilunar valves, 
analogous to those of the venous system of vessels. The 
entire apparatus, then, (not merely the orifices of the ducts), 
is in a weakened, not inflamed, (!) condition ; the permanent 
revitalization of which, constitutes the cure of Sperma- 
torrhoea, &c. : direct medication, suitably applied, accom- 
plishes this object in the " seminal ducts " (technically speak- 
ing) , throughout their whole extent, while the constitutional 
medication acts upon the remainder of the apparatus — semin- 
iferous tubes, etc. — whereby the cure is radically effected. 
But the direct medication (through the medium of the Med- 
icated Bougie) may, where time is not an object with the 
patient, be dispensed with, without at all affecting the sound- 
ness of the cure on that account. 



272 

Btxohh mxb Skin *§wmBm. 



Generally speaking, skin diseases, no matter what par- 
ticular form they may appear under, are the result of a 
scrofulous diathesis or constitution, and legitimately come 
within the scope of Kicord's Practice. Saltrheum, Tetter, 
Scald Head, Scaly Eruptions, Obstinate Ulcers, Enlarged 
Glands, or lumps in the neck, &c, &c, are familiar examples 
denoting a scrofulous taint, hereditary or acquired. 



AUTHOR'S THEORY OF LIFE AND DEATH. 

1st, Of Life. — The organs of an animate body, from their 
peculiar construction and adaptation, the one to the other, 
were designed for action, on the application of their proper 
stimulus, which is The Divine Essence — "ethereal fire." 

2nd. This subtle fluid is derived from God, pervading 
everything, in different proportions and degrees of combina- 
tion ; and upon which depend the form, color, quality, &c, of 
every universal thing — mineral, vegetable, and animal — in 
creation. This Essence is the universal lever — the main- 
spring — whence all action emanates. 

3rd, The Blood. — The blood is the pabulum which nour- 
ishes the organs or body ; from it our material existence is 
derived : but the vital principle, the life of the material or 
physical creation, comes from the Deity. 

4th, Of Death. — When, from a variety of causes, the or- 
gans are worn out, the divine essence cannot act upon them 
so as to reproduce action, any more than steam can act upon 
worn-out or broken machinery ; and non-action, or death, is 
the necessary result.- Again, if any of the vital parts of the 
animal machinery become disorganized, or irreparably des- 
troyed, from external violence (as in fatal accidents, for in- 
stance), the same natural consequence, death, ensues. 



WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 

JUST PUBLISHED, 

THE SIXTEENTH EDITION OF 
MEDICAL INFORMATION FOR THE MILLION, 

OR, 

The True Guide to Health, 
On Eclectic and Reformed Principles. 

SIXTEENTH EDITION, REVISED, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED, WITH- 
OUT OR WITH NEARLY ONE HUNDRED FINE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Price in Leather and Cloth, $1 50. Paper, $1 25. 12mo. 528 pages. 
By CHARLES D. HAMMOND, M.D., 

Pupil of Ricord of Paris, and of Professors Carnochan and Mott, 
of this City ; ex-Professor of Anatomy and Pathology in Syra- 
cuse Medical College, New York ; Author of " A History 
of Medicine," " The Diseases and Infirmities of Youth," 
and other Works ; Medical and Surgical Specialist 
for the Treatment of the Diseases, &c, of the 
Seminal and Sexual Systems ; Member of 
the American Medical Society ; Lec- 
turer on Syphilis, &c, &c, &c. 

The Work treats on about every known Medical Disease — Designed 

especially for the People. To be had of the Author, at 61 

Bleecker Street (few doors East of Broadway) , New York 

City. Postage free to any part of the United States. 



A New Medical Bock for Both Sexes, on Special, Nervous, Con- 
sumptive, Scrofulous, and other Diseases ; their causes, symptoms, 
prevention and cure. A valuable Work for single and married, the 
prematurely debilitated, and those contemplating marriage ; also, for 
some of the Diseases of Females, &e. 

N. B. — To those who are unacquainted with the style and charac- 
ter of the above Work, the Author would say, that it has been highly 
recommended, editorially, as a Book admirably adapted for the peru- 
sal of the Young of either sex, and as a valuable Family Guide to 
Health, by the respectable portion of the lay and medical press 
throughout the country, among which may be mentioned here the 
following few only : — The New York Rome Journal, Atlas, Evangel- 
ist, Medical and" Surgical Journal, Mercury, Cleveland, 0., Jour- 
nal, Syracuse Medical Journal, Universe, 'Brooklyn Star t Oneida 
Herald, &c, &c. 



[Publisher's Notice to the Fourth Edition.] 

Ifetol Infflrnratitm tax t\t pillion. 

BT PROFESSOR CHARLES D. HAMMOND, M.D. 

Fourth Edition, Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged. 

TO PAKENTS, GUARDIANS, AND TEACHERS OF YOUTH. 



It is now scarcely eighteen months since this popular Medical Work 
was first presented to the public, during which period, resting on its 
intrinsic merit, and without the fulsome puffery by which such pro- 
ductions are generally heralded, it has nearly passed through the 
fourth large edition. 

With much confidence, therefore, we respectfully present this illus- 
trated Compendium of Reformed Medical Practice to all who read the 
English language, being convinced that such a Work has long been 
wanted by the non-medical reader. 

An attentive perusal of its pages will satisfy most persons that the 
book has been prepared with much care, and with the view to make 
it what it professes to be, namely, a True Guide to Health and Hap- 
piness, and well adapted for the free use of both sexes, and all classes 
of an enlightened public. 

It is furnished with a Glossary, or dictionary of every technical 
term employed in the science of medicine, for the purpose of render- 
ing it in every respect perfectly intelligible and acceptable to the peo- 
ple, for whom it is especially designed. 

By this Guide, the patient is introduced to a faithful and vividly- 
portrayed picture of his or her individual complaint, be it of a hered- 
itary, accidental, chronic, or acute nature ; also, to the safe and cer- 
tain means best calculated and adapted to bring about a speedy and 
permanent cure of the same. 

In an Appendix will be found a large number of valuable prescrip- 
tions, which alone are worth the price of the book. 

On the succeeeding page a few of the notices of the press are pre- 
sented for your perusal. Among the subjects treated in this Work 
are the following : 



ASSISTANCE IN* ACCIDENTS, ETC. 

BARRENNESS, 

BATHING, ETC., 

CHILDBIRTH, 

DIARRHEA, 

DIGESTION, 

DISEASES OF WOMEN, 

DYSENTERY, 

ERUPTIVE DISEASES, 

ERYSIPELAS, 

FALLING OF THE WOMB, 



FEVERS, 

FEVER AND AGUE, 

FRACTURES, 

INFLAMMATORY DISEASES, 

MIDWIFERY, 

ONANISM, 

PREGNANCY, 

RHEUMATISM, 

THE MENSES, 

VENEREAL DISEASES, 

WOUNDS. 



R. T. YOUNG, 140 Fulton Street, New York. 



u\hU 



m// ISfL^ST/LOiJ r**~ ^ «c^"-- — — l^f^«- ' ^ ^y 



7/ . i j Aj/U^/fjy 



AAittufiidftf """"i******'*** 



THE 

FALLACY OF CAUTERIZATION EXPOSED; 

OR, 

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS 

FOR 

YOUNG MEN: 

BEING THE RESULTS OF THIRTEEN YEARS' PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 
IN EUROPEAN HOSPITAL AND AMERICAN 

PHIVATE PRACTICE, 

IN THE TREATMENT OF 

SPERMATORKH(EA 

AND ITS CONCOMITANT DISEASES. 

INTRODUCING, ALSO, AN ENTIRELY NEW AND ORIGINAL SYSTEM 
FOR THE PROMPT, SAFE, AND RADICAL 

CURE 

(WITHOUT cauterization) 
O^ TIHCESIE DISEASES. 

PRECEDED BY A SERIES OF 

ORIGINAL PRACTICAL ESSAYS 

UPON SUBJECTS OF VITAL INTEREST TO 

YOUTH, MATURITY, AND AGE. 



CHARLES D, HAMMOND, M.D., 

SPEC! VL CONSULTING PHYSICIAN AND OPERATIVE SURGKON ; 
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL SOCIETY ; LECrURER ON SYPHILIS, ETC. 

NEW YORK : 
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 

(Office, 61 Bleecker Street.) 
1859. 



rv » p ivtv f vvv t v i nnf » H f n 



r~Z2^ 



IMPORTANT CAUTION. 



*** The Subscriber is occasionally in the receipt of letters from the conn- 
try, inquiring if he is the proprietor of « the perennial compressor," "the 
urethral supporter" « KiCord's Hood purifier" etc. The public is hereby 
informed that he has no connection with any secret instrument or medicine 
offered for sale. As a RaU, probably admitting of no exception, there is not a 
" specific," or a "patent " medicine or instrument advertised in the newspapers, 
or in quack pamphlets, or placarded about the streets, dc.,for the cure of Yene- 
real and Seminal Diseases, that is not a vile fraud, and its concoctors simply 
Imposters. Avoid them— and also those who profess to cure these important 
diseases under an assumed name, as is the case with nearly every (if not 
every) charlatan in this and other cities, &c. 

C. D. HAMMOND, M.D., 

61 Bleecker Street. 
New York, April, 1859. 



THE INCREASE 

Of Dr. Hammond's Office practice, having compelled "him to relinquish 
hospital business and visiting calls altogether, he has made arrangements 
to devote his time, henceforth, exclusively to patients at the Office, and to 
the Treatment of Cases by Letter ; so that the hours for consultation will 
hereafter be from 9 to 3 and 6 to 9 in Summer, and . from 12 to 3 and 
5 to 8 in Winter. 

For the relief of Urgent Cases, the Office will be open on Sunday morn- 
ings from 10 to 12 o'clock. 

April, 1859. 



